The War Between Races
by WishingfortheSky
Summary: Won Second Place for Best Drama Fiction from the Feudal Association. InuTaisho returns from a seven year war with the humans, defeated. When he is assasinated, it's up to his sons to get revenge! InuKag MirSan Pairings. ON HOLD.
1. Father Returns

**Please Read: **If you're currently reading "Undeniable Love" and your worried that I might slow down update time because I started the fic, have no fear! Roar! I have super update speed. Actually, No I don't. Yet I will continue to update Undeniable Love on a regular schedule, and This story will only be updated once a week instead of the normal twice a week.

Now, as for a quick comment about this story - This is **NOT** like "Will You be Mine" Yes, I have read the story, I like it, and am waiting for the author to update it, but this story is nothing like "Will You Be Mine".

Now for a few **quick key points **to remember in this story:

- **InuYasha's kingdom is at war with the human Kingdoms, **(with the exception of the south which is a mix of demon and human).  
- **The demons just lost the war, and are now dealing with the terms of surrender.**  
- **Sesshomaru and Inuyasha are friendly **(however, later on it will be more like it is in the anime. I was debating on whether I should tell you this, But I don't want to lose readers from "OOCness.")  
**-****Inuyasha Is a hanyou, and there's no "concealment" spells.**  
-** Inu No Taisho and Izayoi are alive.  
- There are slaves in this story, and while its similar to the other stories concerning "slavery", there is no specific race enslaved. **(POW's are enslaved, people are born into slavery, etc. Humans have demon slaves and Human slaves, just as Demons have demon slaves and human slaves.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 1 - Father Returns  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **9/16/05**

Waves crashed against the western shores, seagulls circled overhead, occasionally diving towards the water in hopes of catching an unwary fish. The jewel of the western lands, Daelis, overlooked the rough waters, protected by a thick stone wall. Many ships could often be seen sailing in and out of the city's port, but today was different.

From a balcony of the palace in Daelis, two young boy's could be seen. To the average man, these boys would look peculiar with silver hair, golden eyes, claws, and even fangs; but this was not a land of men. Daelis was a land of the damned. The land was ruled and inhabited by demons, and these two boys happened to be of the royal family, Taisho.

The two said boys were gazing at the port, occasionally sighing or examining the busy city below them. Yet their eyes always found their way back to the port, waiting for the black sails to appear.

One of the boys sighed and whined, "Sesshomaru, Momma said Dad would be back today! We haven't seen him in forever!"

The other boy glanced at his younger brother before turning his attention back to the port. "You must be patient InuYasha. Father will return soon. Besides, Father has been at war for a long time. Many nobles will need to speak with him when he returns, and he will not have the time to speak with you."

The boy called InuYasha nodded once before he too turned back towards the port. Their father had been at war with the eastern empire for some time now, almost seven years. In that time, both sons had grown close; they were nearly inseparable.

Both children stood silent for some time, before Sesshomaru, pointed to the port. "Father has arrived, InuYasha. We must await him in the throne room with mother."

InuYasha quickly turned and walked with his brother through the palace halls. Servants and slaves bowed or curtsied to the two sons, well, more to Sesshomaru than InuYasha, before continuing with their work.

Large tapestries lining the walls were illuminated by the occasional lantern or candle, each depicting a great battle or a family member of the Taisho family. InuYasha used to look at the tapestries for hours when he was little, remembering the every small detail. But now he payed them no mind; his father was arriving soon.

The two brothers descended the main staircase together into the largest room of the palace. This was the first room that people saw when they entered, it was made as large as possible in order to impress the visitors, and make them realize the power of the Taisho family. When someone entered, they would immediately see the grand twin staircases on either side of the room ascending to the second floor, illuminated by a large candle chandelier in the center. Stone columns outlined a walkway in the marble floor to the doorways. One large doorway directly ahead of the entrance held the family crest, that of a snarling white dog on a black background; the rubies encrusted in the ivory door handles gleamed in the light.

It was through this door that the Emperor would speak with other nobles. This, was the door to the throne room. In there was all of the demons of noble blood who had sworn allegiance to the Taisho family. Everyone had gathered to greet the Emperor, and to find out the terms of the end war.

It was humiliating really, that the great demons of the west had been defeated by a united effort by the humans of the east and the north. The very thought made Sesshomaru growl in disgust.

The two young princes of Daelis approached the throne, which sat upon a dais at the end of the room. Their mother, as well as their fathers trusted advisor, Silenix, were already there. Inuyasha gave his mother a small smile before he stood next to her and took her hand. His mother was human, from one of the more powerful families in the Southern Empire. The demons of Daelis held no respect for humans since the war had started, and only managed to be courteous to Inuyasha's mom because she was the Emperor's wife. Many demons would still voice that they preferred Inu No Taisho's first wife, simply because she had been a demon, and had at least given the Emperor a full demon son instead of a hanyou before she died.

Silenix was a wise old demon. He had been the advisor of the Emperor's father before, and when Inu No Taisho became king of Daelis and started to forge and empire, he became the Emperor's advisor. He was also Inuyasha's and Sesshomaru's tutor, teaching them the ancient tongue of the Inu youkai tribe, the human tongue, as well as the tongues of the other youkai.

It was not a long time after the princes entered that the Emperor came as well. He had not changed into formal attire, instead opting to come straight to the throne room, still dressed for battle.

The room was silent, despite the large amount of people waiting. As well as Daelisians, there were also Tolerians, Murigos, Rheinans, Gorminians, Eubridocians, and others from the demon lands that Daelis ruled over. All these lands were either protectorates, conquered lands, or allies of Daelis's empire. They paid tribute to Daelis regularly, and their rulers answered to the Emperor of Daelis, or they would face the consequences.

A small group of humans and demons from the southern lands stood nearby, both races eyeing each other warily, but refraining for any violence while awaiting the Emperor. They had not participated in this war, instead having to deal with a slight civil war in the southern empire. The southern lands often was in civil war. Some even questioned the legitimacy of the so called southern empire. To many, it seemed more like a bunch of small human nations and tribes of demons constantly fighting for dominance. They were the only of the four empires to have both demons and humans. They were undoubtedly here to see what the terms of surrender was for the western lands, as it would no doubt affect the southern lands indirectly.

The demons in the room parted to let the Emperor pass and reach the dais. InuYasha studied his father as he approached. He was tired and dirty from traveling, a thick layer of dirt and grime covered his fathers skin, the occasional bit of sweat making lines on the Emperor's forehead.

Inu No Taisho gave his two sons and his wife a small smile before he turned to address the people in the room. "I know many of you have come here to hear of the terms of surrender for us, and I'd like to say right now, that those terms are not good. The humans have defeated us on the battlefield many times with a prowess we did not expect." murmurs rose at these words, but they were quickly silenced as the Emperor raised his hand. "The humans have harsh terms, yet we must be grateful that we were able to keep our freedom. We are to disband our army, arming only enough men for such tasks as guarding the port and ships, as well as the city from thieves. We are to pay an indemnity, as well as cede the islands of Coari and Krain to the humans."

Shouts of protest began at these words, many owned property on those islands, and the idea of paying an indemnity did not bode well either. Many, if not all, knew that the Taisho family itself would not be paying at all, instead they would raise the taxes and amount of tribute required of its subjects and the subjects of its protectorates in order to pay off the debt.

One particular demon shouted what many other demons were thinking. "And what will the Taisho family do about this? Will they just tax us and our subjects, steal our money from our hands to pay off these humans? You have lost us the war, you should be the one paying the debt, not us!" Several voices shouted their agreement at the first demons words. They fell silent as Inu No Taisho raised his hands for silence.

The emperor addressed the angry demon with a glare. "Jinji, you ask what I will do to help pay off the debt. Allow me to show you." The emperor nodded towards his guards, who had been standing silently at the walls of the room. They all stepped forward and grabbed Jinji. "I will present you and you're family as slaves to the humans of the east and north. Perhaps they will find some use for you."

The room had fallen dead silent. Everyone knew that this was punishment for Jinji speaking out, and no one else wanted the same fate to befall themselves. They winced as Jinji began to scream and try to escape the guards hold.

The life of a slave was often worse than death, especially for one of such high standing as Jinji. The demon had just lost everything. Humans were often extremely cruel to demon slaves, especially since the war had broken out. Jinji's family would be separated as they were sold, the women would be abused, while the men would be slowly worked to death. All his wealth and property were now in possession of the Emperor, who would most likely sell it off to the highest bidder, and then give the money to the eastern lands as a way to pay off the debt.

Neither Sesshomaru nor Inuyasha blinked as Jinji was dragged from the hall by the guards. They had been raised to rule a country, and one day they too, would have to punish someone who stepped out of line. Both Sesshomaru and Inuyasha knew all too well that Daelis ruled with threats and fear. No empire could be held together without it.


	2. Naraku

This is **NOT** like "Will You be Mine" Yes, I have read the story, I like it, and am waiting for the author to update it, but this story is nothing like "Will You Be Mine".

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Kagome, Miroku and Sango are all in this story, do not worry! But they do not appear in this chapter. Be patient!

**Miztical-Dragon - **Thanks for your consent, or whatever. Sounds weird asking for it, but I thought it would be best. I would also like to thank you for pointing out that I had anonymous reviews disabled! I fixed that as soon as you made me aware. And about Hondel, I read "will you be mine" before I read "hondel" and I want to admit, the reason I actually read Hondel was because it seemed so similar to "will you be mine". I was surprised at the similarities, but It didn't even cross my mind that their were parts that were exactly the same.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 2 - Naraku  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **9/16/05**

The palace was quiet for the next couple days. Nobody wanted to incur the Emperor's wrath. Servants and Slaves went about their daily chores, making sure the palace was spotless. Visiting nobles left quickly, or otherwise stayed in their rooms, only speaking with the Emperor if he called them.

The enslavement was Jinji and his family was made public. Held in the great square of the city, the enslavement was turned in to almost a show, both to humiliate and shame the offending family, as well as set an example. The people of the city gathered to watch as Jinji was stripped of his status and prepared for slavery.

InuYasha and Sesshomaru watched with their father. InuTashio was at first hesitant to have his sons with him, but he knew that he could not shelter them for long. They needed to see, to understand, to be prepared for later in life.

They all watched as the slavers brandished their whips, and chained the family members together in a line. Shackles held their arms in front of them and connected them to the family member in front of them. Special necklaces were also fitted to each demon. These were essentially pet collars. They allowed people to see who owned them, as well as allow the owner to leash them and keep control over them.

A simple word was tuned to each necklace, and would allow the owner to punish the slave should he do wrong.

The crowd jeered as they watched one of the new slaves try to fight against the slavers, only to be whipped until he could not stand.

Normally, InuTaisho would not punish someone this way for such a small thing as speaking out against him. However, he had known for awhile that Jinji was plotting against him, slowly seeking out support among lower nobles, as well as several of the more powerful, to overthrow him. InuTaishio had not told anyone that he had found out about Jinji's plans. Yet now that InuTaisho had sent Jinji away, many would know that the Emperor had found out.

InuTaisho remembered the letter that he had received from one of the lords, Naraku. It had come to him while he was campaigning against the humans on Coari.

------------------  
Flashback  
------------------

InuTaisho was in the middle of his morning inspection of the camp and the soldiers when a Messenger from Daelis arrived. The demon bowed deeply while he held a letter to the Emperor.

"Lord, I bring a message from Lord Naraku of Tartil." InuTaisho took the letter from the demon and dismissed him with a wave of his hand. The messenger bowed deeply once more and left quickly so that the Emperor may read it in peace.

InuTaisho studied the letter closely before he opened it. The letter had been rolled up, as a scroll, and sealed with wax bearing the symbol of a spider. He opened it with his claws and unrolled the letter. He began to read.

_To InuTaisho, taiyoukai of the Inuyoukai clan and ruler of Daelis, Naraku, Lord of Tartil sends his humble greetings. Lord InuTaisho, I hope the campaign is going well. Many here at home are worried for your safety and hope that you will emerge victorious from this war. _

_Rumors reach our ears at home however, of defeat on the island of Coari and Krain. There are those among us at home who hear these rumors and rejoice. I have sent this message to warn you that when you return from your campaign, you may not have the support, nor the position you now have. There are many who are secretly planning to overthrow you, after they gain the support from the public and other nobles against you. _

_I myself have been approached by one lord known as Jinji. He offered me a high position and wealth in return for his support against you. He, and several other lords, have become very hostile against you I'm afraid. I however, remain strongly loyal behind you and will fully support you when you return. I will continue to watch other nobles for signs of dissent and will inform you of my suspicions. _

------------------  
End Flashback  
------------------

InuTaisho had not forgotten Naraku's aid when he had returned from. In fact, he had made Naraku his own advisor as soon as he returned. It had been Naraku's idea, to send Jinji away, and had spoken to InuTaisho previously, on many occasions, of somehow finding an excuse to send Jinji away as a slave.

That would make sure that Jinji could never plot against him again, for nobody listens to, no believes a slave.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sesshomaru and InuYasha were not so fond of Naraku. Unlike InuYasha however, Sesshomaru slowly began to trust him, and just believe that the feeling he had when he was near Naraku was simply there because he had not know Naraku well for very long.

It was slightly disturbing however, when they would watch their father take the advice of a demon they barely knew, and would merely shrug off what their mother said.

Sesshomaru interpreted this to mean that you could not allow love to cloud your judgment when you were ruling an empire, while InuYasha simply worried that the war had changed his father. Years of war and battle, the sight of killing and friends dieing could change any man he supposed.

Both sons forgot their dislike of Naraku however, when their lives became busy, with tutoring in the many languages of demons and the human tongue, as well as the proper etiquette of a lord in Daelis.

Their days became a constant competition, who could compose themselves the best, act the most regal, speak the languages the easiest. Every one of these challenges was one by Sesshomaru.

This did nothing against their relationship however. Sesshomaru and InuYasha were still inseparable, and the small sibling rivalry that arose was often encouraged by the family and others.

The boys would often wake up and be schooled by Silenix for several hours on languages, only stopping once to eat lunch before they would quickly being to cover such topics as philosophy, literature, mathematics, and any other topic that a cultivated person should be knowledgeable of. Sesshomaru and InuYasha hated discussing such things, and were often glad when their lessons ended, leaving them a few hours to relax or play before dinner.

When dinner started, they would have a lesson of a different sort, being taught on how to eat properly and how to act towards other lords. This, was InuYasha's least favorite, and while he could eat properly when he had to, he much preferred to simply eat as fast as he could. When dinner was finished they were allowed to stay away for some time in order to play or read, before they would finally settle down to sleep.

Sesshomaru and InuYasha shared a bedroom together, and after they were alone they'd often stay wake for some time, laughing at some foolish thing the other had said, or discussing the days events.

It was one such day after the war had ended when their father came to them during the middle of the night. A gentle breeze carrying the cool night air came through the window. "InuYasha, Sesshomaru, get up." Shivery, We rose and slipped on our clothes. "Come with me."

They followed their father through the empty halls. It was very dark, yet they had no trouble seeing their tall father walking ahead of them, leading them to some unknown place. After much walking, climbing of staircases, and even a ladder, they found themselves on top of the palace, overseeing the entire city below them.

"This, Sesshomaru, you will one day rule over, with your brother's help. All that you see before you, for as far as you can see in any direction, will be your responsibility." he paused, making sure his sons were listening closely. "You two are my heirs, and this land will be yours when I die. However, I will not have weaklings leading this empire that I have forged."

"We are not weaklings, Father." Sesshomaru was obviously a bit insulted by the wording, but InuTaisho smiled at his son.

"You both are in some ways Sesshomaru. Though you both have the potential to be great demons, you have not been taught in the proper ways to defend your empire. The humans are greedy and will continue to expand, slowly taking more and more of our lands. I doubt they will be content with just Caori and Krain. They despise us demons. That is why I have told Myouga and Jaken to train both of you in the ways of war and fighting. Your schooling will begin the day after tomorrow. Do not disappoint me."

The Emperor then began to walk away. "Come with me."

Both sons looked at each other once before jogging to keep up with their father. The news that they would begin training to fight was exciting, and slightly frightening at the same time. They followed their father for some time, through the empty halls once more, until they finally came to their father's study.

As they went in, InuTaisho shut and locked the door. Neither InuYasha nor Sesshomaru had ever been in the study before, and they looked around curiously at the many books lining the walls and letters that their father had received. Both of their gazes however, eventually ended on two swords hanging on the wall.

InuTaisho, seeing this, smiled. "Those swords are called the Tetsusaiga and the Tensaiga. The Tetsusaiga is a sword that may kill one hundred demons with one swing, while the Tensaiga can save one hundred." He looked at his sons, who were staring at the swords with eyes the size of saucers. "I have been waiting for you two to reach the appropriate ages before I gave you any weapons. These swords, will be yours."

At these words, both of his sons turned towards him quickly, sure that they had heard their father wrong. Sesshomaru, the older son, recovered first. "How will you decide which of us gets which sword?"

"I, will not decide." answered their father. "The swords will." at their confused looks, he told them "You must go and try to draw the sword. If it allows you, it has chosen you. If it rejects you, then the other sword will be yours. Sesshomaru, I will allow you to do the honors."

The older boy slowly approached the swords, before grasping the lower one, the Tetsusaiga. As soon as his hands closed around the hilt, blue sparks flew up and burned his hand. Sesshomaru pulled his hand away to see small burn marks, already beginning to heal. "That sword has rejected you, Sesshomaru." said InuTaisho. "Your sword will be Tensaiga."

Sesshomaru then looked up at the other sword and cautiously grabbed the hilt. When it did not reject him, he nearly sighed in relief. He then took the sword down and put it at his hip.

InuYasha was next. He quickly walked to the Tetsusaiga and put his hand on the hilt. It did not reject him, and his pulled it down quickly before he too, put his sword at his hip.

"You will train with these swords, and master their techniques. InuYasha, you will train with Myouga, while you, Sesshomaru, will train with Jaken. Now, I suggest both of you get back to bed and get some sleep before you are awoke by the Silenix for your morning lessons."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	3. A Day To Grieve

This is **NOT** like "Will You be Mine" Yes, I have read the story, I like it, and am waiting for the author to update it, but this story is nothing like "Will You Be Mine".

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Anyway, I was bored today, So I figured I'd put this chapter up today :D I'll update "Undeniable Love" tomorrow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 3 - A Day To Grieve  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **9/20/05**

It had been four years since Sesshomaru and InuYasha were taken out that night and given their swords. Four years of constant training all in order to learn to rule the empire properly.

The once young two boys had grown up to be handsome young men, and under the careful training of Myouga and Jaken, they had both managed to master the swords that were given to them, as well as the art of war.

They both had fallen in love with the swords. While Sesshomaru had at first been envious of InuYasha's sword and it's destructive capabilities, he soon realized the power of his own, and had since then been content.

Over the course of those four years, InuYasha and Sesshomaru had finished their training. They had made their father proud with their accomplishments. Sesshomaru, of course, always acted more regal than his younger half-brother InuYasha. Yet their father favored neither, instead constantly reminding them of the importance that family stay together.

And stay together they did. InuYasha's and Sesshomaru's relationship was as strong as ever. Even though they had finished their training, they could often be found in a friendly duel, each of them trying to best the other, perfect their technique, and learn from each other.

The two prince's skill was well known in the land, and often a small audience would gather in the training yard at the city barracks to see the two fight. Soldiers and the town watch would drink and laugh at the sidelines, making bets over which prince would win this time. Young women would watched and giggle as they dreamed of the two brothers fighting over them. One time a woman even shouted they perhaps she cold help them exercise their third legs for them while the soldiers roared with laughter.

Yet the two sons took no notice of the betting, or the women. While they understood the importance of marrying and having a family, neither had any interest in the women.

At the moment, they were more concerned with where their opponent would strike next.

InuYasha charged quickly at his brother, bringing his sword down fast, only to have it blocked and pushed away by Sesshomaru's Tenseiga. They both jumped a bit away from each other, Sesshomaru, cold and calculating, slowly began circling his younger sibling searching for an opening. InuYasha panted from the fight; he was getting tired. He raised his hand to whip at a small trickle of blood on his brow.

Sesshomaru had been waiting for InuYasha to make a mistake, and this was it. Leaping at InuYasha, he was at his brother's side in a blink of an eye. He grabbed his brother's neck and held him in the air before roughly throwing him down on the ground and pointing his sword at InuYasha's chest.

InuYasha scowled as the soldiers cheered and exchanged money. "That wasn't fair, Sesshomaru."

"Battle is never fair, little brother. I thought you knew that from Myouga."

"Feh."

Sesshomaru held out his hand to help InuYasha up. "Come, let us return to the palace. Father wants to speak with us, remember?"

"Feh, how could I forget the whiney messenger who told us. I never wanted to hit something so badly before."

"I asked you if you remembered father's message, InuYasha, not the messenger who brought it." Sesshomaru and InuYasha began walking through the city to the palace. A small group of personal guards followed them at a decent distance, allowing them to speak privately, but close enough so that they could protect their lords should the need arise.

As they entered the threshold of the palace, a young servant by the name of Shippo approached them. The kitsune had come to the palace as a slave, greedy demons known as Hiten and Maten had treated him harshly, killing his parents before they took him away. When the InuYasha discovered Shippo and his story, he immediately pitied him, and bought him and his freedom from the two slavers. Shippo, of course, was extremely grateful, and eagerly entered the Taisho families service.

"Lord InuYasha, Lord Sesshomaru." he bowed to each of them as he spoke. "Your father requests your presence in his study."

They both nodded and allowed the kitsune to lead them to the study doors, which he knocked. When a gruff voice answered, Shippo stepped into the room to announce them to their father. "Lord InuTaisho, your sons have arrived."

"Send them in." came the curt reply.

Shippo opened the door fully to allow InuYasha and Sesshomaru to enter. Their father was sitting at his desk, several reports from various outposts at the borders of their lands as well as from spies in the human lands were in front of him. A small pile of papers that were the usual requests from protectorates were shoved off to the side. Naraku stood at their fathers side, a small smile on his lips as he nodded to each son.

Naraku had become very close to the family over the past four years. He was very wise for his age, and was very helpful to InuTaisho, lending his advice and aid when he could, sometimes taking care of some more tedious duties so that InuTaisho could have a break. In fact, Naraku had even risked his life to save a young InuYasha from a corrupt palace guard, who had been paid to kill the hanyou in his sleep. In fact, Naraku had become so close and trusted that both InuYasha and Sesshomaru had taken to calling the man "Uncle".

As soon as the servant had left, all men in the room visibly relaxed and took a seat, letting all formality fly out the window. Naraku opened a cabinet in the corner of a room and pulled out a bottle of sake and poured small glasses of it for each of them.

Taking a sip of the sake, their father started with the small talk. "How has your day been so far?" he asked. "I take it that you two were at the training yard again, judging by how InuYasha has that cut on his brow and your both covered in dirt and sweat."

InuYasha and Sesshomaru nodded to their father. "Yes, we have been at the training yard for the good part of our day. It's a good way to stay in shape, father."

Naraku laughed at this. "Yes and a good way to see all the women in the city swoon over you too as well!"

InuYasha and Sesshomaru were saved from Naraku's teasing by their father.

"So which one of you won this time?" he asked.

"Sesshomaru."

"Ah, well I wonder how many soldiers are enjoying a bit of extra money in their pockets now."

"Father, we were told you wanted to speak with us?" asked Sesshomaru, trying to get back on the original topic they came for.

InuTaisho and Naraku's expressions changed immediately. InuTaisho let out a low growl as Naraku's eyes flashed red. It was all over very quickly however, leaving both sons wondering if they had actually seen it at all.

"Here." said their father, shoving a letter into Sesshomaru's hands roughly. InuYasha leaned over Sesshomaru's shoulder so that he could read it as well.

Scrawled in quick, barely legible Inuyoukai tongue was a report addressed to their father.

_InuTaisho _

_I have followed your orders to the letter, and found myself among the inhabitants of Caori. As you know, the demon known as Byuikotsu has been leading a small group of demons who fight the humans on Caori and Krain. The humans had at first put a reward up for the demon, hoping that they could get the demons in the cities to turn Byuikotsu in. When they found out that Byukotsu has the full support of the inhabitants here, they have made an example of the capital city of Caori. All the inhabitants were either slain or taken into slavery. All able bodied men and fertile female was taken away. The young and old alike were slain, some impaled on poles put up outside of the city. The people here speak of an all out revolt. War on Caori with the humans is inevitable, I believe. _

The letter was unsigned, but that is as it should be, should the letter fall into the wrong hands, the letter should not be able to be retraced to the sender. Sesshomaru was the first to look up from the letter.

"What do you plan to do, Father?" his voice was cold and emotionless, but barely hid the rage that must be building in Sesshomaru.

"Not just I, but we." at the curious looks of all in the room, InuTaisho explained. "**We** go to war." He stressed "we" making sure both InuYasha and Sesshomaru understood. They would be going on campaign with their father. It is as they had dreamed when they were younger. They then looked towards their Uncle.

Seeing them staring at him, Naraku cleared his throat before explaining. "While I am knowledgeable in planning and the managing of land, I do not presume to know anything of war. That is why I have agreed to manage Daelis in your father's stead after you two leave."

Sesshomaru nodded while InuYasha merely sat back with a "Feh."

"Now, leave us. Naraku and I have many things to discuss." said their father, waving his hand to say they were dismissed. Both princes nodded this time, before standing and leaving quickly.

Weeks passed as Daelis prepared for war. InuYasha and Sesshomaru were spending more and more time with Naraku and their Father as they went over what needed to be done, the reawakening of old alliances, the provisions needed for all the soldiers, arms, armor, the amount of food needed, and supply trains and their routes needed to be planned, nothing was left in question.

The four of them even went to all of the city barracks, making sure every command was preparing their men for war, as well as the quarters for the dogs that lived with the inuyoukai. Big and white with red eyes, smaller counter parts of an Inuyoukai's true form, the dogs made fierce fighters and worked well with there wolf cousins.

Soon, allies were arriving at the city gates, first the wolf youkai with their fellow wolves at their heels, then the panther demons, old enemies of the youkai clan, but working together against the common human enemy. There were many others, Yuki-onna, (snow woman - Think of episode when Miroku gets led away in the snow, and Sango saves him and Hiraikotsu gets broken. I forget the episode # though, sorry.) as well was tengu, mountain oni, Hiei (fire demon), and even kitsunes.

Of course, all this activity did not go unnoticed in the human kingdoms. Seeing the increased activity, as well as the massive army that had gathered, they sent an emissary to speak with the Emperor of Daelis.

Heads turned as they watched the human's walk through the city street. Their kind had not been in the western empire since before the war. The emissary and his escort huddled together closely, carefully avoiding what demons they could. Some of the kitsunes, being the tricksters they were, transformed themselves into harmless objects and would wait until the humans got near before they quickly went back to their normal forms, cackling as the humans jumped in fright.

When the humans had finally reached the palace, they were obviously very shaken. InuYasha and Shippo snickered as he noticed one of them had obviously soiled himself from fright. Sesshomaru just rolled his eyes. He didn't approve of being with Shippo, someone of his rank should not mix with a servant, much less one who was previously a slave, but he couldn't pass up the chance to watch the weak humans get harassed as they approached.

All three snickered from the balcony they were on as they watched the humans approach the guard, who stood staring into the space just above the humans shoulder, not blinking at all. The humans tried to get his attention, to get him to introduce the human emissary, but eventually gave up and had to walk in and introduce themselves stupidly. The three of them turned and went inside to watch the humans in the entrance.

"I- We... I - I am Kouhei Tsuro from the Eastern Empire. I request an audience with Emperor Taisho of Daelis on behalf of Emperor Higurashi.

When nobody answered, the humans bristled in indignation. They stood there for some time before Sesshomaru finally decided that they had waited long enough.

"Come, even if they are humans, we must at least allow them to speak with father. Perhaps there is a way to avoid war." He nodded his head towards Shippo, silently telling the kitsune to lead the way.

They walked down to the palace's entrance slowly, enjoying the impatience the humans were feeling.

As they approached the humans, InuYasha and Sesshomaru put on their most intimidating expressions while Shippo introduced them.

The humans eyed them warily, bowing to them as they were introduced. Sesshomaru and InuYasha acknowledged each bow with a nod.

They stood in silence for some time before Sesshomaru broke the silence. "Come with us. We will discuss important matters with you." his cold emotionless voice echoing in the large room. He turned and began walking towards his father's throne room.

The human named Kouhei called after him. "We wish to speak with Emperor InuTaisho only."

Neither Sesshomaru nor InuYasha answered, instead they continued walking past the large stone columns lining the marble floor until they came to the enormous doorway bearing the family crest. Reaching for the ivory handles, Sesshomaru finally answered the human. "Then come with us."

The humans followed, cautiously entering the large throne room. Seeing the Emperor in his throne his wife at his side, they immediately approached him, bowing just before they reached him.

"Lord InuTaisho, exalted Emperor of the Western Empire, I am Kouhei Tsuro, an emissary sent with a message from the Eastern Empire, by order of Emperor Higurashi." obviously, Kouhei was trying to be as formal as possible.

"I greet you, Kouhei Tsuro, and welcome you to my home." answered InuTaisho, just as formal.

Dropping the formalities, InuTaisho spoke again. "You may speak freely here. But first - InuYasha, Sesshomaru, leave us."

The two princes bowed once two their mother and once to their father, always formal in public, before turning on there heals and leaving the room.

Little did they know that hours later, they would return to find their father and mother dead, the humans no where to be found.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

InuTaisho and Izayoi are dead! noooo! I hope that doesn't upset people...I never planned on them having a big role in this story. Their deaths help get the plot moving.

Also, for those of you who may be wondering - **Kagome, Sango, and Miroku** ALL make an **appearance next chapter**! YAY!

Also, **PLEASE review**.. Tell me what you think; does it **suck**? is it **good**? is my writing full of **bad grammar**? Have you just found out that, after drinking four cups of coffee in the past hour, that you really have to pee? Because I have! got to go, bye!


	4. The Human Kingdom

This is **NOT** like "Will You be Mine" Yes, I have read the story, I like it, and am waiting for the author to update it, but this story is nothing like "Will You Be Mine".

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 4 - The Human Kingdom  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **9/25/05**

The royal palace of the Eastern Empire, home of the Higurashi family, was known for its beauty. It's white walls would gleam in the sun, the stone walls were filled with intricate designs from the most skilled masons. The palace's tall spires pierced the sky, towering over the land.

Travelers in the city would stop and stare in awe of the palace. Yet few people, even the inhabitants of the surrounding city, knew of the full beauty of the palace and its grounds. It was surrounded by high walls, leaving only the highest parts of the palace visible to the city.

Princes Kagome took little notice of the courtyard she was in while her three closest friends, Lady Yuka, Lady Eri, and Lady Ayumi all chattered and giggled behind her. Princess Kagome could always be found in one courtyard or another with her friends, talking about their dresses, or the handsome princes in the land, especially Prince Hojo.

Prince Hojo was from one of the more powerful human families, and had been seeking Princesses Kagome's attention for some time. While he may not have asked the Emperor for his daughter's hand, everyone knew of Prince Hojo's interest in Princess Kagome, and that he would ask for her hand eventually.

Now, as the three ladies behind Princess Kagome were giggling over Prince Hojo's good looks, Princess Kagome was lost in deep thought.

She had been hurrying through the palace halls after breakfast hour. She was supposed to begin learning to use her miko powers today with Priestess Kikyo, but she could not find her. Finally, she decided to stop and ask one of the guards in the halls, who bowed deeply as she approached.

"Have you seen Priestess Kikyo?" she asked, acknowledging his bow with a nod of her head.

"I believe that your father, Emperor Higurashi has called for her my Lady, along with others. For what reason I am not sure."

Kagome thanked the man and hurried to where she knew her father would be. The room he was in was often used to meetings between him and advisors. It was in a more quiet area of the palace, meant to give her father privacy when he was speaking with others on important matters, but Kagome, living in the palace her entire life, knew of a way to hear what they were speaking of without being seen.

As she approached her hidden spot, she could hear her fathers voice raising in frustration.

"What do you mean that he was assassinated? And they're blaming us?"

"My Lord, you must understand, your emissary was the last person to see Lord InuTaisho. They naturally believe that you sent assassins, and not a true emissary." Kagome could hear Miroku's voice calmly tried to explain the situation to his Lord.

Miroku was a powerful monk who lead both the monks and priests into battle in the previous war with the demons, and had gained a lot of respect. He was now one of Emperor Higurashi's most trusted advisors.

"What do you suggest I do?" asked the Emperor, suddenly sounding tired.

"Well, If the rumors are true, then they were already prepared for war when we sent our emissaries. It is likely we will be at war again soon. If that is the case, then we must ready ourselves." answered Miroku.

The emperor sighed. "Do you agree with him, Kikyo? Sango?"

Kikyo was the head priestess in the palace. Where Miroku had lead the monks and priests, Kikyo lead the priestesses into battle, healing who they could, purifying the demons they came across. Sango on the other hand, lead the demon slayers with her brother, Kohaku.

A moment of silence followed the emperor's question before Kikyo spoke. "Yes, my Lord. We should be ready for war so we will not be caught off guard by the demons."

"Very well then. I expect you all to ready your men, resume training immediately. We will discuss more about this later when all of my generals are here."

It was after her father left that Princess Kagome hurried from her hiding spot, outside to a nearby courtyard, where she was now, with Eri Yuka and Ayumi.

Kagome snapped out of her thoughts as Eri tapped her on the shoulder. "My Lady?" she asked.

"Eri, I have told you before, you do not need to call me 'My Lady' when we are in private. Just call me Kagome."

Eri smiled at Kagome's insistence to not be called My lady. "Lady Kikyo is looking for you, Kagome."

Kagome nodded and quickly excused herself, telling her friends she'd see them later in the day. She then quickly hurried off towards the miko training grounds on the other side of the palace grounds.

When she arrived at the training grounds, she found Kikyo along with an elderly woman who Kagome knew was Kaede. (Quick note: Kikyo and Kaede are unrelated in this story. Just works out better.)

Kagome approached the two women slowly.

"Welcome, Lady Kagome." Kikyo greeted her calmly, bowing her head to her.

"Welcome child." Kaede was much less formal than Kikyo, having been close to a grandmother figure for Kagome when she was young.

Kagome nodded to both in greeting before looking up to Kikyo, unsure about what she was supposed to do.

Finally, Kikyo spoke. "My Lady, I know I am supposed to train you to control your miko powers, but unfortunately, more important matters have arisen, as I'm sure you're aware, and it is necessary to prepare for them. That is why I have asked Kaede to begin you're basic training. I will resume your training when I have the time." The priestess then walked of the training grounds slowly, leaving Kagome with the elderly priestess.

Kagome turned to see Kaede smiling at her. "Come child, there is no need to be worried. I'm sure you'll learn just fine." she spoke gently as she began to walk over to pick a bow and quiver of arrows.

"A miko's weapon is the bow." she handed the princess the weapon and arrows. "Today we'll work on learning how to use the weapon. Now, draw your bow and aim at the targets. Take you're time."

The princess nearly groaned aloud. Here she was, believing that she'd finally learn to use her miko powers today. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. She wasn't going to learn a thing about her powers today. She'd be too busy learning how to fire the bow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miroku sat down wearily in his quarters. He had spent the entire day trying to organize the monks and priests, informing them of the coming war, and just now he was getting some rest this evening.

He looked down at his hand, covered with a glove and wrapped in a rosary. An heirloom of sorts, the wind tunnel was given to his family by a powerful demon. It was because of that curse, the horrible hold in his hand which threatened to consume him, that Miroku had fought in the first war with the western lands. It was all in hopes of finding that demon.

Originally, his family knew the demons name, yet as time passed, the name faded from memory, and now only the curse remained, along with the knowledge of what must be done to save himself. If he could find that demon and kill it, he would be able to save himself.

As he slowly traced his fingers over the prayer beads on his arm, Miroku thought back to the last time the humans and demons had fought. Both countries had exhausted there supplies and men in the war, nearly coming to a standstill at a certain point.

It was during that standstill that Miroku, Sango, Kohaku and Kikyo all managed to plan a very well fought attack on Caori and Kain. Had it not been for those victories, the war might not have ever ended.

After the defeat of the western lands, Miroku, along with many others, had thought that there was little chance of a second war. How the demons had been able to prepare themselves for war again so quickly and begin their march was beyond him.

Miroku considered what he had learned from his informants in Daelis. They had told him that the sons of the late InuTaisho were now at the head of the army. Miroku knew from the many reports he received that both InuYasha and Sesshomaru were very skilled, having devoted themselves to their training.

Yet just because they were skilled in fighting and in politics doesn't mean that they are skilled in battle. They may have listened to what they were told about war closely, but how much they remembered - and how well they are able to use that information, could make a world of difference in this next war.

They may be similar to other young leaders, rash, impatient for glory. If that is so, then Miroku knew he'd be able to make short work of InuYasha and Sesshomaru with Sango and Kikyo's help.

Sighing, Miroku laid down on his bed. Whether the others chose to believe it or not, this war would be more difficult, and more demanding than the first, especially if the Taisho brothers were not fools.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sango hurried through the halls towards Miroku's quarters. Though she'd never admit it to anyone, she felt oddly comforted by Miroku, despite his faults and perverted personality.

In truth, the upcoming war worried her. The last one just brought up too many bad memories.

She remembered it very well; she had been away on the island of Coari with Miroku, busy planning out attacks on the demons there and how to siege their cities. She had made her family remain on the mainland, away from harms way.

She instantly regretted it on her return home. She wasn't greeted by her father's warm smile, her mother's gentle voice, the village children's laughter - she wasn't greeted by anything but the sight of death. While she had been away, fighting for her country, her village had been attacked by the western demons. Her family, even though they were demon slayers, could not compete with the sheer number of demons. They were quickly over run.

Sango would pray for her family every night, but there was little she could do to rid herself of the guilt. The guilt that she hadn't been there to help her family, that she had taken away as many demon slayers as possible in order to attack the islands of Caori and Krain. Had it not been for her, perhaps her family would still be alive. Such is the price of victory.

She felt tears well up in her eyes as she quickened her pace to Miroku's quarters. She needed his comforting voice, his presence.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kikyo watched from a distance as Kaede finished up her training with the princess for the day. The princess's amount of power was astounding. She had the potential to be more powerful than Kikyo. Such a strength had not been accomplished since the Midoriko, the first protector of the secret jewel.

The secret jewel...Kikyo's fingers found their way to the jewel that she had on a necklace around her neck. Entrusted to her by the Higurashi family, at least, until young Kagome was trained enough to protect it, the secret jewel held enormous power.

How to unlock it's power however, had been lost to humanity long ago. Yet demons could still easily access it's power. That is why the Higurashi family protected it; to make sure that no demons ever held the sacred jewel in their hand.

Should the humans lose the jewel, the demons would have unquestioned dominance over the world, and it would mean certain doom for humans.

Kikyo however, had no desire to protect the jewel, to have that amount of responsibility. She could not live with herself if she failed. She gripped the jewel tightly in her hand she vowed to train the young Princess Kagome as best she could.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yay! another chapters done!

I hope you're all happy now that you know all of the people are in this story!

Please review! please please please with sugar on top!


	5. Patience is a Virtue

This is **NOT** like "Will You be Mine" Yes, I have read the story, I like it, and am waiting for the author to update it, but this story is nothing like "Will You Be Mine".

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 5 - Patience is a virtue  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **9/29/05**

InuYasha and Sesshomaru had left there Kingdom with the demon army several months ago. Naraku had seen them off at the border of the Kingdome before quickly returning to Daelis to oversee the Empire.

The plan they had conceived was clever, InuYasha had to admit. While they both had received the same amount of military training, Sesshomaru seemed gifted in his ability to quickly assess situations and form plans. He was cold and calculating, rarely letting feelings cloud his thoughts.

They both knew that by now, the human kingdoms, both east and north, would be aware of their actions. Undoubtedly they would prepare for war and form a defense. However, they would expect the demons to come from the west.

Yes, the humans would be surprised when the demons came from the east, their undefended flank. InuYasha smirked at the thought of the look on the humans faces when they found that they had left their families unprotected in the east.

Their demon army would tear through the human kingdoms until they reached the heart of the Eastern kingdom, Kirei. Then, they'd make the royal family pay for what they did. They'd make an example out of the traitorous humans, thinking they could get away with sending assassins to their lands.

So far, Sesshomaru and InuYasha had done fairly well. They traveled through the less populated areas of the southern lands, avoiding as many settlements as possible. They trusted the southern lands, but they knew that the northern and eastern lands would undoubtedly have spies here, especially where humans would be less noticeable.

So they carefully traveled through the unpopulated areas, using forests and mountains as means of cover when they could. While the army could have traveled much quicker if they were out in the open, they were reduced to traveling about the same speed as human armies because of their cautiousness. Many demons were becoming frustrated.

InuYasha was walking with Sesshomaru at his side, having a silent conversation over the best route to Kirei.

"I think we should stay by the forests, Sesshomaru. They'll be able to supply us with plenty of firewood for warmth and cooking fires in the winter, not to mention better hunting."

"That way is too long InuYasha. It might be true that we'll be warming in the winter by the forests, but we'll get to Kirei much faster if we go through the mountains. The game there will be the same there as in the forest. And as for whether we're cold or not, we're demons right? Or at least, most of us don't have weak human nights." Sesshomaru smirked at the slight insult, knowing that he'd win the arguement no matter what now, since InuYasha, being as prideful as he was, would not admit that he needed a fire when he had a human night on cold days.

"Feh." snorted InuYasha. "Fine we'll go through the mountains. The quicker we get to the city, the better."

They both stiffened when they felt a scent that was becoming all too familiar approach.

A wolf demon quickly ran up to them, nodding his head to both. Koga was the pompous ass leader of the wolf demons. Or at least, that's what InuYasha and Sesshomaru thought.

Ever since they had met Koga, he had acted as though he was on equal footing with the two brothers, often trying to act as though he were the one really making the decisions. Every now and then he'd make a request that sounded all too much like a demand in front of many others.

While InuYasha and Sesshomaru both detested the wolf, they knew they could not rebuke him for his behavior. The alliance of the wolf demon tribe was too important to them. They made excellent scouts and were very effective against human cavalry in battle. The human's horses would quiver with fear before the wolves tore at the horses. Once their mounts were down, the wolf youkai would jump into the fray and made quick work of the humans.

"Hey." Koga acted as though that were an adequate greeting. InuYasha nearly snorted in disgust, but kept his mouth shut, knowing that he needed to keep the wolf youkai close.

"Welcome, Koga." Sesshomaru said.

"I've been getting complaints from a bunch of my guys. We're moving too slow. Everyone is impatient, including me. If you don't hurry up, we're going to have to leave you behind." stated Koga.

"Last time I checked, this was our war, and not yours." muttered InuYasha.

"Brother." Sesshomaru's voice quickly reminded InuYasha to stay on good terms with the wolf. "Koga, we know that the army is impatient, we want to get there as much as all of you, yet we must take our time. The humans do not know we are coming this way, and if we let them know, they will be able to defend themselves better."

"Let them know!" snarled Koga. "I want to fight! I want to feel my claws dig into their throats!"

"Patience, Koga We will reach the human kingdom in a week or two, just as the snows begin to fall. You will have your battles, that I promise. For now, patience is a virtue." explained Sesshomaru.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time had passed quickly. The human kingdom had been extremely busy, preparing for war. More troops had been recruited, new monks, priests and priestesses were constantly being trained, not to mention demon slayers. The entire Kingdom was busy, food was being put into storage incase cities were besieged, walls were reinforced, sutras were placed on doors and city walls, putting small barriers around the various cities' weak points.

Kagome listened carefully from her hidden spot near her father's small conference room, if it could be called that. The emperor had once again called all his trusted advisors to him. Her father had been frustrated for some time with the war, the demons had pulled some stunt that put everyone into slight hysterics. Several months ago, Miroku had began receiving word from his spies that the demon army had left Daelis. As to where it went, nobody seemed to know. It just seemed to have left the city and disappeared.

"Where could they have gone!" yelled her father. "Armies do not just disappear!"

Miroku sighed, understanding his Lord's frustration. He too was frustrated, how the demons had managed this was beyond him. Hiding an army was no small feat. "My Lord, I know armies do not just disappear, but I'm sure that one of my spies will pick up a rumor or hear of the armies movements soon."

"They have not heard anything for weeks - no, months Miroku!" exclaimed the emperor. "What makes you think that will change?"

"I don't have any reason to believe it will change, my lord, I can only hope, and have faith."

From her hidden spot, Kagome could hear Kikyo's sigh. "My lord, I agree with Miroku. Even though we have not heard any word about the demon army for some time, something has to come up sooner or later."

"Demons do not just disappear!" The emperor persisted.

Everyone's voices rose at once, all of them trying to assure the emperor that word would reach them soon. Finally, Sango's voice rose above the rest.

"Kohaku and I have both thought about this matter for some time. We all know how swiftly demons can move. Well, if they had planned on attacking right away, then I think we can all agree that they would already be here." she explained.

Someone else spoke up, a man that Kagome new as one of the armies general, but she couldn't put a name to the voice. "Are you suggesting that they are purposely taking there time? That is foolish! They are allowing us to strengthen our armies and cities!"

Another voice spoke up, one that Kagome recognized this time as General Hideko, a younger general. "If they wait much longer to attack us, we'll easily defeat them, and I would gladly lead an army to their lands. This time we won't be merciful!"

Miroku spoke up above the cheering. "I do not think that they are bidding there time without reason. I know from my spies that both princes have been trained, and that they devoted their time to training with their weapons and warfare. If anything shows that the princes are clever and have a plan, it's the fact that we can not find them."

mutters filled the room, and the men exchanged dark looks. Perhaps the threat was greater than they suspected? But another man spoke, General Jin. "The princes leading the army are young and inexperienced. What makes you think they have a plan at all? You tell us that your spies say the princes have been trained, but so far, your spies don't seem very skilled. They can't even find an army for us!"

Laughter filled the room at General Jin's words, and Miroku did not answer as Jin spoke up again. "Even if the princes have been heavily trained, what makes you think they can properly use that knowledge? Like I said, they are young and inexperienced, hardly something to bother us." The general then addressed the Emperor. "My lord, you should not trouble yourself with these affairs, I am sure that we will easily dispatch the demons."

Miroku seemed the whisper something to her father which Kagome could not hear, but it seemed like her father ignored whatever Miroku had said anyway. "Very well General Jin, you and General Hideko will have free reign over our defenses. You will share power equally. I will leave you two to plan."

Miroku groaned audibly as the Emperor left the room and all the generals began to talk with Jin and Hideko. Kagome carefully peeked through the small window that connected the room to her small spot to see what was going on. Miroku had stood and walked over to Sango, Kikyo, and Kohaku. They spoke quietly to one another, shooting glances at the group of generals, before they quietly walked to the door and left. The generals never noticed their absence.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naraku walked to his quarters quickly, ignoring the slaves and servants. He was too happy to care or notice if any of them were failing to do their duties properly. He passed them all without a glance.

His plan was finally working. He'd been trying to put it into motion for years! Finally it was beginning. InuTaisho was out of the way, he had become too wise and cautious of others. Sesshomaru and InuYasha however, were very trusting of him, even deciding to leave their Kingdom in his hands for the time being.

That "time being" would quickly change to "forever" in the near future however. Soon, he'd be ruler of Daelis, Emperor of the Western lands, not Sesshomaru or InuYasha. First however, he needed to make sure both princes were conveniently out of the way in the eastern lands, without aid. He'd just need a little patience.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yay! another chapters done!

I hope you're all happy now that you know all of the people are in this story!

Please review! please please please with sugar on top!


	6. Separate Ways

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 6 - Separate Ways  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/02/05**

Kagome steadied her bow, carefully aiming at the target in front of her. Her skill with the bow had been gradually improving, well enough to match Kaede's skill at archery, but not anywhere near rivaling Kikyo's archery.

That may not seem like much of an accomplishment to many, since Kaede was an elderly woman and therefore could not do much with a bow anymore anyway, but to Kagome, it was a huge improvement from when she had began all those months ago.

She could now hit the target every time easily, even from the greatest distances that the training grounds offered, but the near perfection of constant dead center hits which Kikyo was so well known for still eluded her.

"Hit the target!" she muttered, releasing the arrow. She watched as it soared through the air and hit the target a few inches away from her last arrow.

"You have been getting better." observed Kaede, nodding her head in approval. "Not only in archery, I might add. Perhaps you will one day surpass even Kikyo as a miko."

Kagome laughed at her mentor's words. Kaede often acted as thought Kagome had some great potential just waiting to be tapped into, but so far Kagome had seen none of that. While she did try hard and was very determined to complete her training, Kagome often made a fool of herself in her training.

The training of her miko powers was passing by at a much slower pace than her archery. Kagome knew how to do little more than put small barriers around herself, and had on occasion succeeded in managing to produce a small blast of miko energy that would harm demons.

Kaede looked up at the sun. "I think we've done enough practicing for today, Lady Kagome. I will inform Kikyo and your father of your improvements."

Kagome nodded her head and thanked the older woman before she left the training grounds. Her arms felt like they were on fire from drawing that bow so many times, and she felt like a hot bath could do her good. She walked quickly through the palace grounds, ignoring the beautiful flowers and fountains that dotted the path, until she reached the palace itself.

She hurried up the steps nodding to the guards that bowed to her as she passed. She quickly went through the familiar palace halls to her quarters to take a bath.

As she opened her bedroom door though, she found her father and Kikyo waiting for her. Few people ever came to her room, other than the servants who cleaned it, and the unexpected visit made her look at her father and Kikyo in confusion.

They both stood from the chairs they had been sitting in by the fire as she entered, greeting her kindly. They had her sit down in a third chair by the fire, and poured her some tea. Silence reigned for a moment before her father finally leaned forward to speak.

"Kagome, I know that we have not exactly been keeping you up to date with the war and what little we know, but I believe you have managed to find out some little bits of it, I assume from the guards." he said calmly.

Kagome nodded, not quite ready to tell her father that she had really found out the information by eavesdropping on his missions. She glanced at Kikyo to see her giving Kagome a knowing look. Kikyo had undoubtably known that Kagome had been eavesdropping, she could probably sense Kagome's presence. Kagome nearly smacked herself for not realizing earlier. At least Kikyo had not said anything to her father, then she would really be in trouble.

Her father spoke again after a brief pause. "Well, I just want to tell you that we have finally received word that the demon army has been sighted."

Kagome smiled at the news. "That's good to hear."

"Actually, it's not." Kagome frowned at her fathers response. "If our sources are to be believed, the demon army is not coming from the west. They are crossing our eastern border as we speak. What's worse is both General Hideko and General Jin are already at our Western border."

Kagome felt horrible. What did this mean? Was there eastern border defenseless? All those villages were going to be destroyed!

"It gets worse though." It was Kikyo who spoke now. She sipped her tea before going on. "When we heard that the demons were preparing for war, we naturally assumed that they would be attacking from the west. As you know, I have been in charge of protecting the Shikon no Tama for some time now. The jewel can give demons unimaginable power, and because of that, we decided that the jewel should be placed as far away from the demons as possible. Believing that the safest place would be in the east, The we have put the Shikon no Tama in my old village, in the forest at our borders. Although the demons are unaware of the jewels presence, they will undoubtedly be drawn to it's power. We have to get to the jewel before the demons find it, and it is for that reason that we will ride out tomorrow to retrieve it and bring it to the palace."

The princess was stunned. She shuddered at the thought of the demons getting the jewel and using it. They wouldn't stand a chance! Kikyo's last words caught her attention though.

"W-We?" she stuttered.

Kikyo nodded. "Yes. You, Kaede, and I will all be riding out to the village with a small escort of demon slayers. We will be able to move swiftly as a small group, and I will be able to cover out scents as we travel."

They were all silent for some time as Kagome took in the news. This was by far the worse she had heard about the war. She knew that whether the demons got the jewel or not could mean the entire difference between winning and losing this war. Kagome was determined to not let any demon get the jewel!

She looked up at Kikyo and her father. "I will be ready to leave in the morning, Kikyo-sama."

Kikyo smiled. Her father remained expressionless. He was concerned over his daughters well being, and the safety in her doing this, but he remained silent, trusting Kikyo's judgement.

"I guess we shall be leaving you for now, Kagome. Sleep well." he kissed her on the cheek before standing. Kikyo stood as well, and they both headed out of her bedroom.

Kagome stared at the door for some time before she finally remembered why she had come to her room in the first place. Yes, she definitely needed a bath, and after that, a good night's sleep.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the western army neared the borders of the eastern lands, the demons became more and more restless. They all knew the fighting was going to begin soon, and restraining themselves for the sake of moving undetected through the southern lands and behind the eastern had taken it's toll. The camp reeked with anticipation.

Yet their was fear, and apprehension too. Demons still remembered their defeat from the last war, and that had been under the leadership of the great InuTaisho. This war, with a weaker army, was under the leadership of his two inexperienced sons, who had yet to prove their worth.

Several years ago, no demon would admit to being worried over a battle against humans, but the western demons had been taught a valuable lesson when they retreated home with their tails between their legs after the last war.

Fighting against powerful mikos, and monks, not to mention demon slayers or priests, would prove to be a challenge for the demon army. Demons would huddle close together and whisper over stories that they had heard about the humans.

Despite the doubt among the army of the Taisho brother's skill, especially InuYasha's, many were overawed and immediately filled with hope when in their presence. Both InuYasha, with his cocky smirk, and Sesshomaru, with his calm stoic expression, seemed to give off a feeling of self-assurance to the other demons.

Yet neither Sesshomaru nor InuYasha were entirely confident. They too, were well aware of the risks in war. They knew the disadvantage of not having their fathers years or experience. They also knew that they would be at a disadvantage in numbers, since they had left a lot of the military at home to defend from any counter-attack the North might launch while the East was preoccupied.

Both InuYasha and Sesshomaru agreed that knowing their disadvantages was better than not knowing though, and they had both ordered for the army to train when at camp. They also held many meetings in the evening with the officers in their army. They wanted to make sure that whatever disadvantage in numbers would be made up for in skill and strategy.

The army had just made camp after the long march. They were within a days march to the eastern border, and they planned on resting for a week or so to train and fully prepare themselves for the battles ahead.

The sun had just set, and cooking fires were beginning to be lit. Demons sat around them, laughing as they slowly cooked the rabbits or deer that they had caught. The wolves and dogs in the camp got along somewhat, many of them off just outside of the camp, growling when another animal came too close to it's food.

InuYasha and Sesshomaru were walking through the camp, watching the soldiers converse with one another. Occasionally a few of them would call out or bow to the two brothers, who in turn would nod their heads briefly in acknowledgement.

Both of them were tired. They had been putting up Kaito the kitsune leader, who had begun to annoy them with his constant jokes and pranks, Taiki from the fire demons, who complained endlessly about the Yuki-onna, Ishimaru from the mountain oni, who kept bragging about his fighting skills, and not to mention the biggest annoyance, Koga.

Koga had approached them last, which of course, was probably the worst time for him to come near, since InuYasha and Sesshomaru were already annoyed from the others who had talked with them. Fortunately for Koga, he was too important for InuYasha and Sesshomaru to lose their temper with him.

The cocky wolf demon came to them and complained, as always about how slow they were moving. He went on, talking about if he were leading the army the war would have been over long ago. InuYasha would snort when Koga bragged about how he would conquer the eastern lands so quickly.

If there was any demon that he couldn't stand, it was Koga. Whenever the wolf demon opened his mouth, InuYasha found himself itching to plant his fist in the demons face, and maybe give him a few swift kicks in the ass for good measure. Alliances be damned, that flea-bag should learn to shut up!

Sesshomaru of course, reigned in his anger and frustration while he held back his younger brother. He too would love to beat the wolf senseless, but his strong sense of duty held him back. He would not allow his anger to cloud his judgment and ruin the alliance between the dog demons and wolf demons.

Koga remained oblivious to the anger of the two dog demons, and would continue to ramble on about the victories he would have, every once in awhile implying that neither InuYasha nor Sesshomaru had the skill to rival him in battle. After all, what could some dogs do better than a wolf?

As InuYasha and Sesshomaru walked through the camp, trying to ignore Koga's annoying voice, they came upon the large expanse of ground that the army had been using as a training ground. At the moment, some Inuyoukai were sparing amongst one another, their dogs watching in mild interest from the sidelines.

The three leaders watched as one pair of the Inuyoukai stepped away from one another to transform into their true forms. InuYasha looked on enviously. He had no true form, and he, along with many other youkai, believed that was a slight disadvantage.

Koga, knowing InuYasha didn't have a true form, always loved to rub it in, just to make the hanyou angry.

"Oi, mutt," he called. "Don't you wish you could do that? Too bad your a weak half-demon though." he chuckled at his own words, ignoring Sesshomaru suddenly stiffening at Koga's words, as well as InuYasha's snarl.

Sesshomaru had never heard the wolf speak in such a rude matter to his half-brother, and he was about to teach the wolf a lesson in manners, when he caught his brothers reply.

"Keh. I don't need a true form like you in order to win my fights, flea-bag."

Sesshomaru silently cursed at his brothers words. InuYasha had better not anger the wolf demon too much, they needed him in this war. Then Sesshomaru noticed that a lot of the demons in training grounds had stopped to turn and watch Koga and InuYasha bicker. _'Oh god and I'm standing next to the imbeciles. I better step away quickly.'_

He quickly stepped away, hasty to distance himself from the two idiots he had been walking with.

"If you two are done arguing like children, I believe the men are trying to train." he said calmly.

Both Koga and InuYasha's mouth snapped shut, finally aware of there own foolishness. InuYasha turned his head away in embarrassment, while Koga simply glared.

"I don't see what's so important about all this training Sesshomaru. We're only fighting humans." he said.

Sesshomaru shook his head. Koga was one of the few demons in the camp who was either too stupid, or too confident, to realize that the humans posed a threat. Sesshomaru considered trying to explain how the humans were such a threat to Koga, but decided against it, knowing the wolf demon was too dense.

"A wise man once said, 'To lead untrained people to war is to throw them away.'. I will not throw my men away Koga. Not matter how weak humans are, I do not want any unnecessary losses." Sesshomaru turned on his heel and left the wolf demon there to ponder his words. He didn't feel like talking much with the wolf anymore. **(AN: By the way, that was a real quote. Can anyone tell me who said it? Hint: The person who said it was from China)**

Sesshomaru kept walking, not truly caring where he headed, as long as he didn't have to listen to that annoying wolf anymore. He soon felt another presence though, and realized that it was his brother, InuYasha.

His brother walked silently for some time, allowing both of them to cool off from whatever anger they had felt towards the wolf demon. Thankfully, no one else bothered them as they walked, or else they may have found themselves the subject of both InuYasha's and Sesshomaru's wrath.

They eventually reached the edge of their camp, and in the distance they could see the route that they had decided on to reach Kirei, the Eastern Kingdom's capital city. The mountains that they would be traveling through would not only provide them with some cover from open areas, but it would allow them to see for miles, letting them know long beforehand if humans were headed there way.

Yet they could also see the route that InuYasha had wanted to go, if only because it would be warmer and easier for his human nights. The dense forests of the Eastern Kingdom would have plenty of game, as well as plenty of wood for fires. The forests were said to also be the home of demon slaves who had run from their masters and gone into hiding.

Sesshomaru glanced at his brother, only to find him staring at the dense forest in the distance. He knew that his brother would much prefer that route, and he had thought about it for some time now. But he could not entirely believe that demon slaves were hiding in the forest. Why had they not left the eastern lands and come west, if they were free?

But he also knew that there was the possibility that it was true, and any increase to there army would be helpful. He looked at InuYasha once more, and finally made a decision.

"InuYasha." he called his brother quietly. He noticed his brothers ears twitch to show that he was listening. "I want you to go through the forest. I and the rest of the army will go through the mountains. You will find what youkai you can and try to enlist their support. We'll meet up at Kirei. Do you understand?"

InuYasha nodded. "Hai, brother."

"Then go." Sesshomaru waved his brother off and went back to camp, not bothering to watch his brother run towards the forest.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review Review Review! Oh and also, sorry for not updating this at the same time as I updated Undeniable love earlier today. I re-read the chapter and wasn't too happy with it, so I ended up rewriting quite a bit of it. Anyway, Enjoy!


	7. Sealed to a Tree

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 7 - Sealed to a Tree  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/06/05**

Kagura closed her eyes as she soared west. She did not need to watch where she was going. She knew that she only needed to head west to eventually reach Daelis, and she did not need to worry about hitting anything while she was so high up on her feather.

Before Sesshomaru and InuYasha had left the city of Daelis, Naraku had told her to go with them and keep an eye on them. He said he needed to know everything that they planned and did.

InuYasha and Sesshomaru knew that Kagura was Naraku's slave, and that they were supposed to use her to send news to Naraku about their progress, but they did not know that she was also meant to spy on them.

Sesshomaru had just recently sent Kagura back to Naraku, telling him of his decision to travel through the mountains. Kagura noted however that Sesshomaru had not told her about InuYasha's whereabouts. The prince had disappeared from the camp a few days ago, and Sesshomaru had not even acknowledged InuYasha's absence.

The wind demoness wondered if even the Western Lord knew of his brother's whereabouts. Rumors were spreading in the camp that InuYasha had deserted them. Koga seemed to enjoy the chance to humiliate InuYasha in his absence and fueled the rumors. Sesshomaru had said that InuYasha had not deserted them, but few in the camp believed it.

Kagura desired freedom more than anything, and Naraku said that he would give her freedom if she served him well. Perhaps news of InuYasha's disappearance, and the fact that Sesshomaru had not said much about it would please her master?

As Kagura flew over the walls of the city, she noted that there seemed to be more guards and soldiers than the princes had left behind. Naraku had obviously been recruiting new demons and raising a second army.

When Kagura finally reached the western palace, she found Naraku already waiting for her. Her eyes widened when she saw him. Apparently something was wrong with him in the head, or maybe he had become a little eccentric, because he was wearing a baboon pelt today. She flew down and stepped off her feather before greeting him, ignoring his odd choice of clothing.

He nodded at her greeting. "What news do you have from Sesshomaru and InuYasha, Kagura?"

"Lord Naraku, Sesshomaru has sent me to tell you that he has made the decision to continue into the Human lands through the mountain ranges." Kagura paused to see Naraku's reactions to her words. Unfortunately, there was no reaction. Naraku only waved his hand for her to continue.

Bowing her head to avoid eye contact with her master, she went on. "Lord Sesshomaru believes that the mountains will provide cover for the army until they are closer to Kirei,and then they will attack."

Naraku nodded as he listened to her words. "Very well. You have done well Kagura. You will tell Sesshomaru that I am glad he has done well so far. Also tell him that I have heard rumors about a possible rebellious lord. That way if he has any people here sending messages to him, he will not question me when I continue to recruit more troops. Now, do you have anything else to tell me?"

"Hai, Lord Naraku." answered Kagura. "The younger prince, InuYasha, has disappeared from the camp. Nobody is sure where he has gone, and although I am sure Sesshomaru knows, he does not say where his brother has gone."

Naraku frowned at her words. "I thought I told you to keep an eye on them Kagura."

Kagura flinched at his words. Although he had not raised his voice, she knew he was furious. "Sumimasen. (_formal way to say Sorr_y)."

Naraku glared at her for some time, before relaxing and saying, "Do itashimashite. (It's okay.) Do not fail me again. You will find InuYasha and tell me where he has gone."

Kagura, grateful that Naraku was in a good mood, quickly rose and flew off on a feather. '_He must be happy because he has a baboon pelt to wear,'_ she thought.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagome had set out of the palace with Kikyo and Kaede early in the morning yesterday. They were surrounded with a guard of eight of Sango's and Kohaku's best demon slayers as they travelled.

Kagome watched them with fascination from Kikyo's side. The demon slayers had odd armor and weapons which were said to be made out of the bones of demons. They worse odd masks over their noses and mouths and they had small pouches at their belt full of powders and poisons.

The princess wanted to talk to them badly and ask them all about their travels and their fights with demons, but she couldn't. That wouldn't be lady like, and for whatever reason, Kagome always seemed to want to prove that she could act ladylike in front of Kikyo.

She sighed in her saddle. They had been traveling for some time now on their horses, occasionally getting stopping to both give the horses and themselves a rest. Kagome wished that they would take a break soon; a small pain was forming in her lower back and she couldn't wait to get off the horse. They were awfully uncomfortable. Kikyo however, had said that they would not stop again that day because they needed to reach the village by night.

The trip was relatively uneventful, and they traveled in silence. Everyone seemed to be on edge, hoping that the demons had not reached the village in the woods yet. If they had, they might as well surrender the war now. The Shikon no Tama in the hands of a demon would spell disaster.

When they finally reached the village, Kagome let out a sigh of relief. She looked around at the village as she dismounted from her horse. It was a small village, and it seemed to all surround one larger building with a stone walkway leading to it.

Kagome knew that the building was a shrine, and that it housed the jewel in it. She was so busy staring at the building, as though she could see the jewel, that she did not notice several mikos from the village approach them.

They all went to speak with Kikyo after they bowed their head in respect to her. "Kombanwa, Kikyo-sama. O-genki desu ka?" (_Good evening Kikyo. How are you?)._

"Kombanwa. Genki desu." replied Kikyo. (Good evening. I'm fine, thank you.) "I have come to warn you, there are demons nearby."

The mikos all nodded their heads. "Yes. There have always been demons in the woods."

Kikyo became frustrated. "I'm not talking about them! I mean the western army! They crossed our eastern borders not far from here!"

The village mikos all paled at her words. "The demon army is near here?" stuttered one. "Oh kami."

Kikyo nodded her head. "Yes, they are very close. It is dangerous to have the jewel so close to them. If they feel it, they'll come here and easily overwhelm this village. We must take the jewel back to Kirei."

One miko stepped forward, "But if they are so close, they would have surely felt it by now! Their is no way you can out run them, Kikyo-sama!"

Kagome knew this was true. How could they outrun the demons? If the demons felt the jewel at all, there'd be no way they could out run them. Apparently, Kikyo knew the truth in these words too, because her shoulders slumped and she bowed her head in defeat.

"We will stay in the village then, until the threat has passed. Perhaps the demons will not feel its presence. I want the princess to be escorted back to Kirei however." Kikyo looked into Kagome's eyes then, and Kagome knew that, even though she was the princess, there would be no arguing with the miko.

Kagome sighed, knowing she was in for another two days of uncomfortable traveling. At least she'd be able to set the pace this time.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

InuYasha walked through the forest. It was dark, the sun barely broke through the dense layer of leaves. At times, InuYasha had to jump up to the top of the tree to tell if it was still daylight or not.

InuYasha had found several demons. It seemed the rumors were true and that they were all in hiding in this forest. He did not know why they had not come to the west though, because so far, he had not had the chance to speak civilly with any of them.

Once he approached one of them, it would look at him and immediately attack. InuYasha had no choice but to defend himself and fight back. Unfortunately for all the demons in the forest, InuYasha was a much stronger demon than he seemed. Hanyou he may be, but he was the hanyou son of one of the strongest youkai to have lived.

Lately, InuYasha had stopped looking for other demons. Shortly after he had entered the forest, he felt some strange pulling. Not knowing what it was, he decided he had to find it and sooth his curiosity.

He could tell he was getting closer. The pull was unbearable. He broke into a run, deciding that he had to find whatever it was as soon as he could. He sniffed the air as he ran, trying to see if he could pick up the smell of a demon from that strong pull. He didn't want to run into a trap set by a strong demon.

He ran as fast as he could, often leaping from tree to tree, using branches as springs to increase his speed. The landscape passed in a blur as he ran, or more like leaped, through the forest. All the while the pull became stronger and stronger.

As InuYasha got closer and closer, he could see some structures in the distance. He stopped, not quite sure what to make of it. The buildings in the distance were definitely human. The area reeked of their disgusting smell. Despite the smell, InuYasha found that he still wanted to run into the village and find out what was there.

Suddenly, another smell came to his nose. The smell of a demon. InuYasha turned around to see a bear demon staring at him. Oddly, it did not attack him like all the other demons had in the forest. Both InuYasha and the bear demon stared at each other, before the hanyou, tired of the silence, spoke up.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked rudely.

The bear demon ignored his rudeness and answered, "I am Kazuo. And you are?"

"Keh. None of your damn business." InuYasha folded his arms and turned away from the bear demon, knowing the bear demon wasn't about to attack him.

InuYasha stared at the village for some time. The bear demon, realizing what InuYasha was staring at, asked "Do you want to know what it is?"

"What are you talking about?" asked InuYasha.

"Do you want to know what's making you want to run to that village?"

InuYasha, curious, nodded his head.

"In that village is the Shikon no Tama. The humans put it there when they thought the western demons would be attacking, because it's far from the west coast, where the western army will cross the border." (remember, the people in the forest do not know that the western army came the east. Only the humans in the village are just finding out from Kikyo now.)

InuYasha gasped at the bear demon's words. The Shikon no Tama? Here? That kind of power would easily settle the war. But something bothered him. "Why haven't you or any other demon in this forest taken it yet?"

The bear demon frowned. "None of us are strong enough. They have mikos training there, more than enough to hold us at bay. They put up a small barrier around the village to stop us from getting to close."

_'A barrier, huh. Well that will be easier to get rid of with my Tetsusaiga.' _InuYasha smirked and began to walk towards the village.

The bear demon called out after him. "Hey, you can't possibly get the jewel! You're only a half-demon!"

"Keh. Watch me!" yelled InuYasha.

The bear demon only shook his head. "It's your life." He walked off deeper into the woods, not wanting to watch another demon be purified.

InuYasha unsheathed his Tetsusaiga as he neared the barrier. It glowed blood red before he swung it down and cut the barrier open. He sheathed his Tetsusaiga and ran in before the barrier closed up.

Once he was through the barrier, the pull of the jewel was even stronger, and the smell of many humans reached his nose, making him want to vomit. One scent he found oddly soothing however. He made a mental note to find out what that was once he got the jewel.

He ran up the village and leapt into the tree as he got close, hoping that none of the humans would see him. The mikos would undoubtedly sense his aura soon - it was hard to miss - and come looking for him. He'd have to make this quick.

He looked at the village. It all seemed to be built around one larger building, as though protecting it. _'That must be the shrine, and where the jewel is.' _ He thought. Jumping out of the tree, he landed on top of a hut, still unnoticed by the humans.

He waited until a pair of demon slayers walked by before he bolted towards the shrine, ignoring the cries of the humans who spotted him.

Running into the room, he saw the jewel on a bead necklace. He ran forward and grabbed it. Turning around, he saw several demon slayers and villagers storm into the room, ready to fight. They shot arrows at him, which he easily blocked by clawing at them. With the front door blocked, he'd have to find another exit. He knocked over a torch, hopefully it'll keep some villagers busy while he escapes, before leaping and crashing through the roof.

'_Hah. That was too easy.' _ He thought. He leapt through the village, easily dodging arrows from mikos and weapons that the demon slayers threw.

He was in the woods before long, just at the barrier, when one miko got in his way. He quickly clawed her shoulder, not even stopping to see if she had fallen or not. When an arrow flew right in front of him and hit a tree inches from his face with a thud, he turned to see the injured miko staring at him, an arrow drawn in her bow.

"You're quick, and obviously very brave to try and do that, demon. But I suggest you return the jewel. My next shot won't miss if you don't."

InuYasha stood silent for some time. He could hear the humans back at the village shouting. Apparently nobody knew where he, or this miko was. He studied the miko in front of him. Her shoulder was more wounded than he though. By the way it was bleeding, he could tell that it would be fatal. The scent of death reached his sensitive nose. '_With that injury, she won't be able to hold that bow for long. There's no way she can aim in that condition.'_

Taking his chances, InuYasha decided to make a run for it. He didn't bother attacking the miko, she would die soon anyway, and the sooner he was away from this village, there safer he would be. His decision turned out to be a huge mistake. He turned when he heard the miko shout at him and the twang of her bowstring reached his ears. The arrow flew right into him, piercing his chest, and pinned him to the tree behind him.

InuYasha dropped the Shikon no Tama in his shock. Unconsciousness quickly took him as he reached to catch the jewel.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:D Yes I know, exactly like the anime! hehe. Even though this story has nothing to do with the anime, I like to have similarities between my story and the real thing. Don't ask me why, I just do. (I get my sexual thrill off of it ----- Just KIDDING! I'm not a pervert, lol.) Yes I know I have a weird sense of humor. Anyway, Till Sunday!


	8. Saved by the Enemy

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 8 - Saved by the Enemy  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/09/05**

The army had moved through the border the day before, quickly heading into the cover of the mountains. As they climbed higher, snow began to fall around the army, blanketing the land in white.

They kept marching, ignoring the cold. However, when the snow had reached several feet, the Western Lord called the army to a halt and ordered to have camp set up.

He was not worried over the demons in the snow, no, the demons would not allow themselves to be bothered by such a small matter, but Sesshomaru knew of the dangers of the snow in the mountains. When he had originally planned to go through the mountains in the winter, he had no realized how heavily it snowed. He began to think of other options.

If the army continued marching, they were risking the hazard of avalanches, and even starvation. He began to think that perhaps InuYasha's idea had been better - the forest would have been safer. He'd _never_ admit that InuYasha was right however. Finally, Sesshomaru called all of his generals and commanders together. He'd have to seek second opinions in this matter.

That was where he was heading now. He had decided that they would discuss the situation as they ate that evening. He had several demons set up a large tent for privacy. As he pulled back the flap to the tent, Sesshomaru was immediately greeted with a blast of warm air. Searching for the source of the warmth, Sesshomaru found that the soldiers had put a fire at the side of the tent, far enough away from the edges of the fabric to be safe.

In the center of the room was a large table, on top of which sat some roasted deer, which seemed to be the army's only source of food since they had entered the mountains.

Around the table sat all of the people he had called. They were already there, not daring to arrive after the Western Lord. When he stepped into the tent, they looked up at him and immediately greeted him, one even pulling out a chair at the head of the table for him to sit.

Sesshomaru studied the faces at the table. Kaito the kitsune leader, sat farthest from him on the right, with Torei from the tengu youkai. Next to him sat Ishimaru from the mountain oni, and next to him was Taiki from the fire demons. Taiki was glaring across the table from him at the leader of the Yuki-onna, Koori. Next to her was Koga, who had put his filthy feet on the table and was leaning back in his chair, casually twirling a pair of chopsticks between his fingers while trying, and failing, to ignore Karan from the Panther demons next to him. To the left of her was the leader of the Kappa youkai, Byooki.

Nobody spoke for some time, everyone waiting for Sesshomaru to speak first. The Western Lord calmly took some food and dished himself, ignoring the impatient people around him. He then waved for them to dish themselves.

"I have called you all here because I wanted to discuss our situation with you all." He said.

"What situation?" asked Karan. "Everything has been going smoothly, except for the prince's sudden disappearance!"

"InuYasha is none of your concern. If you must know, he is currently attempting to gather some more forces for us. He will meet us at Kirei. As for our situation, I am referring to the weather." replied Sesshomaru.

Koga put his feet down and leaned forward, wearing a small smirk. "Is the great and terrible Sesshomaru worried about a little snow? I had no idea dogs were such weaklings!"

Sesshomaru chose to ignore the remark. "I am worried that perhaps staying the mountains would not be such a great idea. I admit I originally thought that it would provide us cover and allow us to reach Kirei without much trouble, but now I fear that if we do not leave the mountains, we will lose as many men to the elements as we would if we fought our way to Kirei."

Koori spoke then. "The Yuki-onna can handle this weather, Lord Sesshomaru. However, I do not think that weak fire demons will be able to. Perhaps it would be best if we stayed out of the mountains for them."

Taiki bristled in anger. "The fire demons won't have any problems with this weather either Lord Sesshomaru! We can easily handle anything the Yuki-onna can."

Sesshomaru held his hand up to keep Koori from retorting. "Before any of you say anymore, allow me to explain fully. I know that all of you can handle the cold. However, wildlife here can not. With each passing day we have had to ration our supplies more and more. However, losing men to hunger is not the only problem. We also have to worry about avalanches and snowdrifts."

Kaito, the Kitsune leader, spoke up then. "We could leave and take on the villages at the base of the mountains. They'll have plenty of supplies to use, and although nobody else will admit it, I for one wouldn't mind having a roof over my head in the winter."

Sesshomaru nodded and looked at the others. "I agree. I have been having similar thoughts myself, and I think it would be best if we left the mountains soon. Now, eat. We will camp here tonight, but tomorrow we will head out of the mountains."

Ishimaru began to protest. "But Lord Sesshomaru! If we leave the mountains we'll be inviting the humans to attack us! And if we get caught inside a village they can trap us in there. There may be risks to staying in the mountains, but there are many more risks to staying in a village!"

Sesshomaru studied the mountain oni. He was large, twice the height of Sesshomaru and three times as wide. His fist was the size of his head and in it he often carried a large club. Many people immediately dismissed him as a brute with little brains when they saw him, even Sesshomaru had originally thought so, but after meeting Ishimaru and having several conversations with him, the Western Lord knew that the oni had quite a sharp mind.

"That is true, Ishimaru. We would be taking many risks by heading to a village, however, do you honestly believe that it is less safe than staying in these mountains? True, the village leaves us open to attack, but the humans will be slowed down by the snow. By the time they reach the village, we will already have known they are coming and be able to move on."

Torei didn't seem happy with the idea. "I agree with Ishimaru, if we go into the village we will surely -"

Sesshomaru cut him off. "I have made my decision, and I will not allow any more argument. We will head towards a village tomorrow."

Not all of the demons looked happy with the decision. Sesshomaru didn't care though. Tomorrow he would be able to rest easy knowing that he had not needlessly risked the lives of his men.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naraku walked through the halls of the palace. _'My palace'_ he thought with a smirk. Yes, he had been planning this for awhile, and now it was finally working in his favor. He had silently sent InuTaisho misleading information, telling him that his most loyal advisors were in fact traitors.

Even Jinji, who had faced such a harsh fate, had actually been a very strong supporter of InuTaisho. The fact that Jinji had spoken out to InuTaisho that one time was very convenient for Naraku. All the letters and warnings he had given InuTaisho about Jinji earlier immediately seemed believable, and InuTaisho ended up losing another supporter.

Now, with most, if not all of the Taisho family's strongest supporters out of the way, Naraku had free reign of much of the western empire. All he needed to do now was contact a few of the lords who did not support the Taisho family, and gain their allegiance.

The first and most important Naraku would contact, would be Ryuukossei, InuTaisho's longest and strongest rival.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kagome sat in the hut, still panting and tired from helping put the fires out. Several others sat in the hut as well. Kaede, for one, though she seemed relatively unaffected by what had just happened. Laying against the wall of the hut were several demon slayers and villagers, all who had minor burns and a few injuries.

Kagome didn't know exactly what had happened, but she and Kaede were on their way to leave the village with several demon slayers when they had hurt some shouts come from behind them. Fearing the worst, they immediately turned around and hurried back to the village, only to see several buildings aflame.

Kaede looked at the men, offering one of them a glass of water. "Can you tell us what happened?" she asked him.

He nodded as he drank. Putting the glass down with a sigh, he began. "After Kikyo-sama had told you and the princess to head back to Kirei, we began to prepare sleeping arrangements for Kikyo-sama. We were heading towards her hut with her belongings when a youkai, - no, a hanyou jumped off the roof and leapt over us."

He paused to take another drink from the glass. "The demon practically ignored us. We were a little surprised, but it didn't take long to figure about why. It headed straight towards the shrine, where the sacred jewel was held."

Kagome gasped, but was quickly silenced by Kaede's glare.

The man continued, "About ten of us followed the demon into the shrine, - it was cornered, even if it had the jewel, it was cornered in a village full of miko's and demon slayers. But the demon didn't even bother trying to fight us, he blocked our attacks like they were nothing and knocked over some torches before it jumped through the roof. We tried to follow it, but it was too fast. It just leapt over the buildings and into the forest."

Kaede sighed. Things weren't looking too good. With the jewel gone, they might as well surrender to the demons.

"Where is Lady Kikyo? I must speak with her." said Kaede.

The man looked up at her. "She followed the demon into the forest I think. She said she would return with the jewel."

It was Kaede's turn to gasp. "She's in the forest alone? With a demon that has the jewel shard?" The older miko looked over at Kagome. "Come child we must find her!"

"Shouldn't I find some of the more experienced mikos Lady Kaede?" asked Kagome.

"There's no time child! Come with me. We'll have some demon slayers come with us!" Kaede hurried out of the hut, telling a few of the men that Kikyo was in the forest chasing the demon, and that they would have to help her.

They all ran out to the village in the direction that the demon had went earlier. They continued in silence, the only sound reaching their ears was their own breathing and their footsteps. Finally, they came upon a body on the ground.

As they came closer, they realized whose body it was.

"Lady Kikyo!" gasped Kaede. She hurried over to the younger miko. They all circled around Kikyo's body.

Kagome looked around. They were just outside of the barrier now, surrounded by large trees. Kagome gasped at what she saw on one of the trees.

Kaede looked up, "What is it child?" She followed Kagome's eyes. Pinned to a large tree was a hanyou. A dog demon, to be exact. He had long silver hair and two dog ears on top of his head. An arrow pierced through his chest. Kaede instantly recognized it as a seal to keep the hanyou pinned to the tree.

"So that is the demon that took the jewel." she said. She looked down at the base of the tree. "The Shikon no Tama!"

They hurried over to the tree to get the jewel. When they turned around however, a demon stepped out from behind a tree nearby. "Yes, the Shikon no Tama." he said. "I'm surprised that a hanyou like this did it. I have to hand it to him, he must be pretty strong to do what the youkai in this forest couldn't."

The demon slayers all raised their weapons, ready to attack the demon, when many other demons came out from behind them. Realizing they were surrounded, they quickly formed a circle around the Princess and Kaede.

"Oh, I wouldn't bother. You'll all be dead soon anyways. But first, you're going to hand over the Shikon no Tama." He held his hand out, ready to accept the jewel.

Kagome looked around. There was no hope. If they didn't hand over the jewel, they'd be overpowered by the demons. She picked up the jewel, ignoring Kaede's protests.

She walked over to the demon, holding out the jewel. She was about to give it to him when the demon slayers behind her grabbed her and pulled her away from the demon.

"You must not give it to him Kagome-sama!" said one.

Slowly, the group of humans back away from the demons, trying to find away to get away from the demons. Eventually, they ended up next to the hanyou.

The head demon spoke up again. "This is your last chance. Hand over the jewel, or we'll -"

He stopped talking abruptly, looking behind the humans. "It's alive?" he asked.

Kagome turned around, only to see the hanyou opening his eyes. Their eyes met briefly.

"You!" he snarled. "You pinned me to this tree wench!"

Kagome's eyes widened. "Me? I did not pin you to this tree! I am not Kikyo!"

"Keh! You look and smell exactly like the wench who pinned me to this tree!" As he was talking his eyes found Kikyo's body on the ground. He let out a small "Oh."

"See?" asked Kagome. "I am Kagome! Not Kikyo! Ka-go-me!"

The demon spoke up again. "I hate to interrupt you to, but I am still waiting for you to hand over the jewel."

"The jewel?" asked the hanyou. "It's mine! Give it to me!" he snarled, reaching out with his hands.

The demon sighed. "I've waited long enough. Take the shard!" he signaled for the demons behind him to attack. They ran forward, snarling, when Kagome threw the jewel towards them.

They all stopped, their attack, looking for the jewel. The head demon, who had seen where she threw it, calmly walked over and picked it up.

"My thanks, humans. But I'm still going to enjoy killing you." He took the jewel and swallowed it.

The humans watched in horror as the demon consumed the jewel. They were about to resign themselves to their fate when the hanyou spoke.

"Oi." came a voice behind them. Kagome turned to see the hanyou looking at them. "Pull this arrow out."

"Nani? Why would we do that?" asked Kagome.

"Do you want to die here too?" he answered with his own question.

Kaede looked at them sharply. "No! Do not free him Lady Kagome! He'll turn on us as soon as he can!"

The hanyou glared at her. "Just pull it out if you don't want to die!"

The choice was easy for Kagome to make. She reached up and grabbed the arrow in his chest, pulling with all her strength. The arrow snapped, and a bright purple light burst out of it.

The hanyou...pulsed. The humans could feel the power flowing from him. They slowly backed away from the hanyou, slightly scared at what the Princess just released.

The demons surrounding them, realizing what had happened, roared in fury and charged at the humans. The hanyou, keeping his promise, leapt in front of them, drawing his sword.

(remember, InuYasha has his Tetsusaiga already in my story.)

"Kaze No Kizu!" he shouted, slamming his sword down. Kagome watched in awe as the attack shot through the ground, tearing it up before it reached the demons, who cried out in pain as they were hit. In seconds, it was over, and only large marks in the ground remained, along with the jewel.

InuYasha took a step towards the jewel, but stopped when he felt a necklace clasp around his neck. "Nani?" he asked, trying to pull it off. They had just put a slave necklace on him!

Kaede looked at him. "Although you saved us, we can not trust you to not do anything once you get the jewel. However, we will release you once we return the jewel to the royal palace in Kirei along with Princess Kagome."

"Princess Kagome?" muttered the hanyou. He looked at her then. "You're Kagome Higurashi?" he snarled.

Before Kagome could answer, Kaede spoke once more. "Remember my promise. You will be released once we return to the royal palace. However, if you harm the princess in anyway, I will not release you."

The hanyou looked at Kagome with pure hatred then, which made her shudder. She definitely wouldn't be able to sleep tonight! Finally, the hanyou spoke. "Fine. I won't hurt you or her, so long as you release me at the palace."

Kagome spoke up then. "What's your name?"

The hanyou looked at her then, the hatred still in his eyes. "Keh. That's none of your concern." he said, looking away.

The truth was, he didn't know what to tell her. She was the princess of the Eastern Kingdoms, the very family he had set out to kill. If he told them his name, he probably wouldn't live to see tomorrow.

They could easily kill him in an instant with the slave necklace on his neck. There'd be no way for him to escape.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	9. What's your name?

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 9 - What's your name?  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/14/05**

Ryuukossei studied the letter in front of him. He usually did not take interest in other demons, but this Lord Naraku was an intriguing person.

Naraku appeared to be extremely cunning, more powerful than one might believe. Had Ryuukossei met Naraku before, he probably would have passed him off as a weakling barely worth his notice. Yet this letter that Naraku had sent changed his opinion of the demon entirely.

Lord Naraku had apparently gained InuTaisho's trust slowly, feeding him information that would make InuTaisho believe Naraku was his strongest supporter. Apparently, Naraku had achieved a status of almost a family member of the Taisho's - before he had several of his slaves kill the Emperor, making it seem as though the humans had done it.

And now Naraku had come with an offer for Ryuukossei, one that was too good to refuse. Ryuukossei shook with laughter at the thought. All of this, the war, his worst enemy's death, the future deaths of Sesshomaru and InuYasha, all of it, is because of this Lord Naraku.

Yes, Ryuukossei was sure he and Lord Naraku would get along just fine.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

InuYasha sighed as he walked, once again trying to pull the rosary, the slave necklace, off of himself. Unfortunately, it wouldn't budge. He paled at the thought of becoming a slave. What if they didn't release him? The thought of being a slave to worthless humans was humiliating. Him! InuYasha, prince of the western lands, a slave!

He glared at the older miko who had enslaved him. She ignored him, and continued on her way past him. The young princess gave him a wary look before hurrying after the older miko. InuYasha snarled and continued walking, ignoring the demon slayers surrounding them with their weapons ready.

Not that they needed to keep their weapons ready. InuYasha had no intention of trying to hurt the princess yet. Not when the older miko could so easily have him kill with a word. Yes, the possibilities were endless with slave necklaces. The owner could set any word they wanted to the necklace, as well as th punishment he would receive.

InuYasha shuddered. He remembered Jinji trying to resist as he was enslaved. Some of his family members too. He hoped that he would not be facing the same fate Jinji had. He knew humans were not kind to their demon slaves.

InuYasha realized that the princess was staring at him. When she realized that he had noticed, she quickly turned away, blushing.

InuYasha would have found her attractive, were she not human. Humans were filthy creatures, he knew that just as any other demon did.

One of the demon slayers spoke. "Lady Kaede, Princess Kagome. I think we should stop here for the night."

The older miko nodded. "Very well. We will continue in the morning."

InuYasha groaned. Humans moved pitifully slow! He looked for a nearby tree. Finding one with large enough branches, he quickly leapt up and leaned back against the trunk, allowing his legs to dangle in the air.

He ignored the noises of the humans setting up their tents and starting the fire, instead staying in a stony silence as they ate and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. He didn't want to spend more time with the humans than he had to.

The princess, unfortunately, had other ideas. He sensed her coming closer, her footsteps, her way of breathing. He had already had them memorized; he didn't know why, and the fact that he had done it without even thinking about it annoyed him. Most of all though, her scent. For some reason, he wanted to keep breathing it in.

Whenever he smelled her, he couldn't get the damn princess out of his head. It was like poison! The filthy little human girl was screwing with his senses.

He opened his eyes to see the girl staring up at him. "Won't you come down to eat?" she asked, her voice wavering a little.

_'Probably still scared of me'_ he thought. He closed his eyes, not bothering to answer her.

She stood there, waiting, in silence. Finally, she spoke again. "You could at least come down. You have no reason to fear us."

InuYasha bristled with anger. "Fear you?" he shouted. "I don't fear you, I'm disgusted of you! You humans are filthy creatures, not only do you assassinate my- Our emperor, you also enslave me after I save you all!"

The girl flinched at his tone, and lowered her head. She stayed there though, apparently determined to make him so angry he wanted to kill her.

"We didn't assassinate your Emperor." she said it so quietly that InuYasha could barely hear, but he did.

He looked down at her then. "What?" he asked, more to reassure himself that he had heard correctly.

"I said we didn't assassinate InuTaisho! We had nothing to do with it!" she shouted.

InuYasha looked down at her with wide eyes. "What do you mean you didn't do it! The human's scent was all over the room!"

"I swear, we never scent anyone to Daelis to assassinate your Emperor. I know it's hard to trust me, but you must believe me when I say this!" she shouted.

InuYasha leapt down from the branch he was sitting on, landing next to the girl. She jumped, startled by his sudden appearance next to her. She stood very still as he sniffed her, trying to find any sign of lies. When he found none, he looked at her.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm very sure." she answered.

He sniffed her again, still finding no scent of lies.He stopped when she giggled, pushing him away.

"What?" he asked.

"N-nothing. It was just kind of funny how you did that." she said, looking away from him.

"Feh." InuYasha said, turning away from her. He sat down on the ground, legs crossed and sword resting in his lap.

She hesitantly walked up to him and sat down next to him. He breathed deep, losing himself in her scent before he remembered that she was a human.

_'Disgusting creatures!'_ he thought. But then he looked over at the princess, who was staring off into space. She had actually spoken with him, and seemed to have lost all of her fear of him. Now she even seemed to want his company. Perhaps humans weren't as bad as he thought.

He looked over at the others, who were still setting up camp. They were moving slowly, talking amongst one another, laughing at jokes that they were sharing. The older miko sat by the fire, seemingly lost in her thoughts. InuYasha knew differently however. He had seen her occasional glance his direction, probably to making sure the Princess was alright.

The princess laid down, staring up at the stars. She was silent for some time, before she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry." she said.

InuYasha looked down at her curiously. "For what?"

She brought her hand up to the rosary, lightly tracing it with her finger. "For this. We shouldn't have done it."

InuYasha snorted. "Not like you had a choice. The old miko is right, you know."

Kagome smiled faintly. "I know. You would have turned on us, but you wouldn't now, right?" she asked.

InuYasha thought for a moment. "If what you say is true, that you humans truly didn't send assassins to my- our emperor, then no, I suppose not."

They fell silent for awhile, InuYasha studying the humans by the fire, and Kagome at his side, gazing at the stars.

Finally, Kagome spoke again. "Do you think, that if the demons knew that we did not assassinate their Emperor, that the war would stop?"

InuYasha sighed. He noticed that a lot of the chatter had fallen silent at the camp, the people at the fire were listening to their conversation closely.

"No, I think that even if I got word to the demons, they wouldn't even care about it anymore. The other demon lords are power hungry, and would still want to fight, even if they knew the truth."

Kagome sighed. "So then there really isn't any hope."

The western prince frowned. The more he thought about it, the worse it seemed. The demons were ruthless. InuYasha's only hope was meeting Sesshomaru at Kirei and trying to convince him that peace could still be found. If Sesshomaru was convinced that the humans did not kill their father, then perhaps there was hope.

"Yes there is," he said. The princess looked up at him, surprised. "If Lord Sesshomaru can be convinced of the truth, then he could call off the war. The demon's wouldn't be happy with it, but they wouldn't disobey him." he explained.

Kagome nodded. "And if Sesshomaru isn't convinced, then what?"

"Then, we fight." answered InuYasha.

"We?" asked Kagome, catching onto his words.

Inwardly, InuYasha winced. Had he said that out loud? "I won't allow any demons to harm you, or any other human if your innocent. I'm not ruthless." he said.

Kagome beamed, and quickly sat up, hugging him. InuYasha choked, shocked that the human would do that, but quickly relaxed and regained his composure.

"Thank you!" breathed the princess.

Embarrassed, InuYasha looked over to the old miko, who was watching with amusement. He gestured to her for help, but she shook her head, letting him know that he was on his own this time.

"Uh...no problem." he said, a bit unsure of his own voice.

The princess let go of him, to his relief, and looked up at him, smiling. "Do you really mean it?" she asked.

"Feh. I said I would, didn't I?" he asked, some of his old self coming back now that he wasn't being held by the human.

The princess giggled at his sudden change in attitude, but didn't comment.

InuYasha's ears twitched at the sound of her laughter. He didn't know why, but everything about the princess was driving him crazy. Her scent, her smile, the way she moved, and just now, her laughter.

The princess, noticing his twitching ears, reached up hesitantly and grabbed one, rubbing it gently.

InuYasha, still lost in his thoughts about the princess, did not even realize he had started growling in content, or the fact that his ears were even being rubbed at all.

Kagome's eyes lit up as the hanyou leaned into her touch. Giggling, she reached with her other hand and grabbed the other ear, and began to rub that too.

Suddenly, InuYasha realized what was going on. He quickly jerked away from the princess, embarrassed at how he had just acted. He turned his head away so she wouldn't see him blush.

The princess was still smiling, seemingly unaffected by InuYasha's sudden movement.

"Your ears are so soft!" she said.

InuYasha, still embarrassed, said nothing, instead choosing to ignore the comment.

They sat silently for a moment, before Kagome finally decided to speak again.

"Hey," she called him.

InuYasha turned back to her. This time, he couldn't help but think, _'Kami she's beautiful'_. He shook his head, trying to get the thought out of his mind. Ever since he had seen the girl, he'd been having unwanted thoughts like that.

"What?" he asked.

"Well...you know my name," she trailed off. "I was wondering if I can know yours now?" she asked.

Immediately, InuYasha answered with a curt, "No."

The Princess pouted. "Why not? It's just a name. It's not like it will change anything!"

InuYasha snorted. "Actually, it would change everything."

Kagome, curious, couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean?"

InuYasha stayed silent, refusing to give anymore information.

The Princess sighed. "Please? I just want to know so I don't have to call you 'Demon' or anything like that. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

InuYasha thought about it for a moment. He looked at the girl in front of him. For whatever reason, he found himself wanting to trust this girl, to confide in her. But he knew that it would be too risky to open up to her. If the others found out, what were the chances that they would free him? He was after all, the prince of the western lands.

"Sorry, but I can't tell you." he said.

Kagome sighed. "I just want to know what to call you!" she said, shouting.

"If I told you, then I know you wouldn't free me when we reached the palace," explained InuYasha.

Suddenly, Kagome got an idea. "No, we will release you when we reach the palace, but If you don't tell me your name, then I promise that rosary will stay on."

InuYasha suppressed a shudder. That was a harsh threat. Being a demon slave in a human kingdom was a demon's worst nightmare.

"Fine, fine! I'll tell you!" he said. "My name, is InuYasha."

"InuYasha?" Kagome gasped. "Your InuYasha Taisho?"

InuYasha's ears flattened to his head. Did she have to say that so loud? Silently cursing his stupidity at telling her his name. Now the whole camp knew and was looking at him. Slowly they stood up and headed over. InuYasha couldn't help but glare at the Princess. Why did he trust her again?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**neoman1338:** No, the quote is not from Sun Tzu. Good guess though! Here's a hint: He was a famous Chinese philosopher.


	10. Caring For Humans

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Update Dates: Sundays and Thursdays

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 10 - Caring for Humans  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/16/05**

The soft crunch of the snow beneath the soft set of boots were all that could be heard for miles around. No animal stirred, no wind rustled the trees, the area had become submerged in silence. The snow had finally stopped falling from the sky, coating the area in a two foot deep blanket of snow.

Sesshomaru had ordered the army to march this morning, away from the mountain camp. He knew many others did not agree with this decision, but he did not care. He made the decisions, not them.

As he watched the army set up and prepare to leave, Sesshomaru had left Kaito and Ishimaru in charge. The kitsune and mountain oni seemed to be the most clear thinking of the other commanders in the camp, and weren't quick to anger. Sesshomaru was also confident that they wouldn't betray his orders.

And so Sesshomaru had left the camp area, for time to think. From high up in the mountains he could see the village that they would attack tomorrow. Further beyond that he could just see the beginnings of the forest that InuYasha was currently in.

Sesshomaru had received no word from InuYasha. Not that he had truly expected it. How would InuYasha have sent anyone if he wanted to? He had nobody to send the messages with.

Yet something seemed wrong to Sesshomaru. He had no idea what exactly gave him this feeling, but something told him that InuYasha was having difficulties. Call it a bond between brothers, or a sixth sense, all Sesshomaru knew was that bad was happening, and that he, in the mountains, could do nothing about it.

Sesshomaru continued down the mountains, deciding that he should probably catch up to where the army was. As he was going down however, he changed his mind. He didn't feel like listening to Koga's constant complaining, or Taiki and Koori's bickering over whether fire demons or Yuka-onna were better.

Instead, Sesshomaru set an easy pace down the mountain, deciding that at this pace he would come upon the army's camp in several hours.

His trip down the mountain passed in silence, save for his own footsteps and heartbeat. Yet when Sesshomaru neared the bottom of the mountain, close to where the demon camps would be, he heard singing.

Curious, Sesshomaru stopped, listening. The words were barely audible, and Sesshomaru had a hard time hearing them. When he found that he couldn't hear them at all anymore, Sesshomaru convinced himself that he had been hearing things.

He looked up at the sky, it was almost evening, and plans would have to be made for tomorrow's attack. As Sesshomaru took a step away, heading back towards where the demon camp would be, he heard laughter.

He stopped mid step, straining his ears. Again, he heard laughter. He turned quickly towards the source of the noise. He quietly approached it, wanting to find out who, or what, was there.

As he got closer, the laughter got louder, ensuring him that he was getting closer to the source of the noise. leapt over a tree, only to land behind a small girl, no more than eight.

She had dark hair, and was wearing an orange kimono. She hummed and laughed as she played n the snow, packing it together and rolling it into large balls. Unaware of his presence, she continued to play.

Sesshomaru watched in silence as she tried to lift the balls up and place them on top of each other. She struggled for awhile with one of them, panting with the effort it took her. Then, finding that she wasn't strong enough, she sat down on the ground to try and find a different way to do it.

That was when she noticed him. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, just standing behind her, silent and observant. She jumped up and back away at first, studying him. When he made no move to go after her, she stopped.

Her head tilted to the side as she looked at him curiously. Sesshomaru still made no movement. He did not know why, but he had no desire to harm this girl. Even though she was human, a traitor, the same race as the people who killed his father, he had no ill will towards the girl.

The girl smiled suddenly and walked over to him, grabbing his hand. He looked at her in shock. The human dared to touch him? She gave his hand a small squeeze, and Sesshomaru found himself allowing the girl to pull him towards the balls of snow.

She pulled his hand and pointed at the snow blocks. No words were needed. Sesshomaru, feeling what could perhaps be called compassion for a human for once, bent down and picked up the snow ball, placing it on top of the other. Then, he picked up the third, and smallest ball of snow, and placed that on top of the other two.

The small girl laughed in delight and quickly picked up some small stones. She made what Sesshomaru thought was supposed to be a face, and then stuck two sticks into the side of the middle ball of snow.

The girl smiled, after she was done. Her work of art, her snowman, was finished. Sesshomaru watched as the smile quickly faded on the girl's face. She looked up at him then, studying him. Then she nodded to herself and turned back to the snowman.

Sesshomaru watched, shocked again by this humans actions, as she clearly drew streaks in the side of the snowman's face, inexactly the same fashion that Sesshomaru's markings appeared on his own face.

The girl smiled then, happy that she had made a snowman Sesshomaru. She pointed to her snowman, and said "Youkai-san!"

Sesshomaru looked down at the girl. The human was obviously not afraid of him, he could not smell it. Even though she clearly knew what he was, she was not afraid. A had never known a human to not be fearful of a demon.

The girl pulled on his hand once more, and he looked down at the girl. She seemed to be offering him something her small hand. As he looked at it closely, he found that she was in fact offering him food.

"I do not need your food." he said, looking away.

The girl frowned for a moment, before she said. "It's a gift."

Sesshomaru looked down at her when she addressed him. Why he was so amazed with this girl he could not explain, but there was something about her, something about this human that astounded him.

"I do not need a gift from you, human. Keep it for yourself." he ordered.

The girl frowned again, withdrawing the offer of food. Sesshomaru nodded to himself as the girl obeyed. But then, again to his amazement, the girl put the food down in front of him before skipping away.

"Bye Youkai-san!" she shouted over her shoulder.

Sesshomaru couldn't help it, for once emotion showed on his face. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide. The human had purposely disobeyed him, and he still didn't smell fear from her.

He watched as the girl disappeared among the trees, heading back to her home, he figured. Collecting himself, he again put on his stoic expression and headed back towards where the demon camp would be, his thoughts centered on this strange human girl.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

InuYasha stared at the princess in her horse next to him. He was still in a bit of shock over what had happened in the camp yesterday when he had announced himself.

When he'd seen the demon slayers and the older miko walking over to him after they found out his identity, he had immediately expected the worse. And why shouldn't he? He was one of the leaders of the demon army, the very army that was bent on destroying the Eastern Kingdom.

Yet the humans had done the exact opposite of what he'd expected. After the princess had nearly shouted his identity in shock, the humans slowly rose and walked over to him. The demon slayers were silent, clutching their weapons tightly, ready for any sudden movement from the hanyou.

The older miko however, was calm, and studying the hanyou with interest. InuYasha quickly sniffed the air, trying to sort through all the scents to the old miko. Oddly enough, no fear was coming from her.

"You are InuYasha Taisho?" asked the miko.

InuYasha, knowing there was no point in trying to lie at this point, nodded his head, preparing himself for the torture he'd receive through the slave necklace.

The miko was silent for awhile, clearly thinking hard. InuYasha pretended to be uninterested, but he watched the miko out of the corner of his eye.

"And you believe us when we say that our emissaries were not sent to kill your father?"

Again, InuYasha nodded, wondering what the miko was trying to get at. "I didn't smell any lies coming from the Princess when she said it."

The miko nodded. "I suppose that would explain your sudden trust." she looked at the hanyou. "And you say that you would help us fight if the other demons can not be convinced of the truth?" she asked.

InuYasha nodded. "Keh. All I have to do is tell my brother the truth. He'll call back the army once he knows."

The miko nodded again before turning away. The demon slayers stared at InuYasha for a few moments before they too turned away.

InuYasha was still lost in his thoughts about the encounter last night when the Princess screamed.

InuYasha turned to see an arrow protruding from one of the demon slayers chests, a steady flow of blood down his chest. The horses began rearing at the sudden smell of fresh blood.

InuYasha scanned the trees in the forest to see several humans coming closer, all wearing rusty battered armor and carrying various weapons. One word crossed his mind: Bandits.

He noticed that they had surrounded their group, and were slowly edging closer. The Princess horse had become very uncontrollable, and soon shot off towards one of the bandits, trampling him in the process. It kept running though, with the Princess hanging on shouting for help.

The demon slayers and the older miko began to move after the Princess, but as soon as one tried to move out of the circle, he was shot with an arrow.

The miko quietly spoke to the hanyou. "InuYasha, go and get the Princess! We will handle these men.

InuYasha nodded, and quickly took off at a run, swiping two of the bandits down in the process. He ignored the blood on his claws for the moment, instead sniffing carefully to try and follow the Princess's trail.

As he left the clearing he could clearly hear one of the bandits tell some of his comrades to follow him.

InuYasha smirked at the thought of the pitiful humans believing that they could harm him. He knew it would help the miko and demon slayers however. He had killed two, the princess's horse had trampled one, and now possibly two or three of them were following him. That left about equal numbers between the demon slayers and bandits.

He stopped and turned around to draw the Tetsusaiga. The bandits that were following him caught up, two of them panting from the run. The third looked like he was breathing easier, but his eyes widened at the sight of InuYasha's sword.

"What's the matter?" asked InuYasha, feigning concern. "I thought you were following me to fight me?" He shrugged to show he didn't care about their answer. "Oh well. I'll tell you what. I'll give you 10 seconds to run before I kill you."

The humans all dropped their weapons and quickly began to run. InuYasha laughed to himself at how pathetic they were. Counting to two, InuYasha quickly raised his Tetsusaiga above his head.

"Wind Scar!" he shouted, watching as the attack quickly caught up to the humans, who screamed in pain before dieing.

InuYasha smirked as he sheathed the Tetsusaiga again. Then he remembered just why he had gone out into the forest before. _'Kagome' _he thought, quickly racing off to follow her. He leapt from tree to tree, he went the snow began to get a bit deeper, which he was thankful for because it gave him clear tracks for him to follow. No longer relying on scent, he was able to move even quicker through the forest to find the Princess.

He continued following the path, occasionally changing directions. It took awhile, longer than would be expected, but he finally caught up to the horse. Unfortunately, that was all he caught up to.

He stopped to see the horse had fallen, his leg was clearly broken. He looked around for a sign of the Princess, but found none. Her supplies were still with the horse, her bow and arrow that she had practiced with, as well as clothes and some food, but the Princess wasn't anywhere nearby.

He sniffed around, trying to find any sign of the princess. To his disappointment, he found none. He silently cursed himself for fighting with those humans and not catching up sooner. He had actually began to think of the girl less as a disgusting human and more as someone he could bear with being with, or maybe even enjoy being with.

'_If she's hurt I'll...'_ He stopped himself from thinking of what he'd do. He didn't want to know himself. Had the girl grown that much on him so quickly? She was a human!

"Keh! Like I care about her!" He tried to convince himself that he didn't care what happened to her, but he couldn't help but feel worried. Constant 'What if?' questions ran through his mind.

"I only care because if she gets hurt I won't be freed!" he tried to convince himself as he searched for her. Unfortunately, he knew the truth - no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise, he really had begun to care about the Princess.

Eventually, InuYasha found himself retracing the tracks of the horse, sniffing it to find where Kagome's scent separated from the horses.

It wasn't very far, from where the horse had fallen, but it was quite awhile from where they had started by the bandits. When he finally smelled her again, he quickly followed the scent through some shrubs, only to find that the Princess had fallen unconscious in the snow.

He picked her up, and feeling how cold she was, quickly started a fire. He cleared some of the snow from the ground, and taking off his own Haori, he would have to do without it in the snow, and placed it around her as a blanket while she lay by the fire.

Abruptly InuYasha realized that today was the night of the new moon, and Kagome was using his Haori.

"You better wake up soon, girl." he growled. "I'm going to need that back."

The princess however, remained unconscious. InuYasha sighed. "Damn it. I'm probably going to freeze to death tonight." he muttered.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miroku quickly caught up to the Emperor. "My Lord! You must reconsider! I'm telling you right now that it is not a wise decision!"

The emperor turned around quickly, his face inches from Miroku's. "And what would you have me do? That village is clearly in danger! I must send troops to it's aid! Not only that, but my daughter is somewhere out there! With the Shikon No Tama no less!"

Miroku blanched at the Emperor's tone. "N-No sire! I am just saying that you must take what you can and not try to do more than you can! The village will already be taken by the time your troops reach there, and they will be tired. Easy prey for the demons' army!"

Next to him, Sango and Kohaku remained silent, neither wanting to incur the Emperor's wrath.

The Emperor spoke then. "Perhaps there is no hope in sending troops to aid the village. Perhaps the demons will take it before we get there. But if we do not send troops I would be abandoning my people Miroku! I will not have it!"

Sango tried to speak in Miroku's defense. "My Lord I agree with Miroku, while you may be abandoning your people in the village, you'd be saving more people by keeping your troops ready to defend where you can! You should not throw your armies away!"

Emperor Higurashi, normally a very thoroughly thought out man, was now beside himself with anger. He didn't care what Sango or Miroku thought. He would not abandon his people.

"Sango, I did not ask your opinion in this matter!" he shouted. He turned towards her brother, Kohaku.

"Kohaku, I want you to take a small army and attack the Western Lands. Perhaps if we attack them on their home they will have no choice to return. They will be undefended and unprepared, just as we were."

Kohaku nodded before bowing. "Yes, my Lord."

The Emperor nodded before turning on his heel and stalking off, carefully avoiding Miroku's and Sango's pleading gazes.

Sango watched as her brother walked off to prepare himself and any troops he would need. her brother was going off to war alone again. It was not their first time being separated in war, they had both been apart in the first war with the Western Lands, but it didn't matter, she still felt a sense of loss as she watched her brother walk away.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Miroku looking at her with concern, nod a shred of lechery in his eyes. "I'm sure he will be fine Sango. Kohaku has managed by himself in the past."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Woohoo! Another chapter done! So, once again, tell me what you think!

Oh and also, I addressed this in my other Fan Fiction, Undeniable Love, but I think I should mention it in here too, incase any readers don't look at both. (You know you're out there!) The FanFiction "A New Leader", will be put back online in the middle of November, when the plot lines of both The War Between Races and Undeniable Love are bit more settled out.


	11. A Human Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Update Dates: Sundays and Thursdays

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 11 - A Human Heart  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/20/05**

Night fell soon, and InuYasha groaned as he felt himself turn human. He could see the hair hanging over his shoulders turn dark black and his claws shrink down into normal human fingernails. Worst of all however, was the sudden dulling of his senses.

He felt less alive like this. He couldn't hear the animals in the distance, he couldn't hear the soft heartbeat of the girl laying by the fire, and he couldn't smell the her soothing scent.

He hated his human nights with a passion. Nothing good had ever come out of them. In addition to losing his senses and his ability to fight, he would lose his strength and endurance. He was a weak, pitiful human for an entire night.

If there was any sign of trouble, he'd be forced to hide like some frightened animal, and abandon his honor, rather than stand and fight. What frightened him at the moment however, was the safety of the girl in front of him by the fire.

He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if she was hurt now. He silently cursed as he remembered that he wouldn't be in this mess if he hadn't toyed with those humans. Even if it had only taken a few seconds, those few seconds had cost him.

After all, there was always the chance that he could have caught up to the Princess before she got hurt if he hadn't wasted time on the humans.

He felt himself getting cold and huddled closer to the fire for warmth. He glanced down at the Princess, who had his haori draped over her. She needed the warmth more than him though, after all, she was injured, and getting sick and injured would do her no good.

He tossed some more wood into the fire, poking it with one of the larger sticks to keep it breathing as he did so, and then sat back to watch the girl.

He suddenly felt extremely guilty. He seemed to be the cause of a lot of the problems lately. If he had been more careful and aware earlier that day, those bandits never would have gotten close enough without him being able to give warning.

If he had been fully aware, he probably could have warned the demon slayers long in advance, and nobody would have died, the Princess's horse never would have run off like that and gotten the girl injured, and he never would have had to leave the other humans to fend for themselves against the bandits. Kami knew if they were still alive or not.

On top of that, he was the cause of the fires in that village, and all of those injured people, the death of that miko, who seemed to be an important person in the Eastern Kingdom, not to mention the damn war between demons and humans was partly because of him.

But he could fix it. He knew he could. He would have to. He'd help the Eastern Empire how he could, by getting word to Sesshomaru to end the war peacefully, and help the Princess how he could.

He'd be starting to make up for his wrongs tonight, he realized. He was already partially risking his own health for the well being of the Princess. He'd deserve it if he got sick anyway, after the harm he'd done.

It was strange. Demons weren't supposed to feel guilt or remorse. But he did. His damn human heart made him feel like this, he knew that. His father had explained to him once what it meant to have a human heart, during one of his more memorable human nights at the palace.

"Your human heart makes you different from other demons InuYasha," explained InuTaisho.

InuYasha studied his feet, not meeting his father's eyes. "But I don't want to be different, dad."

InuYasha continued to study his feet until he felt his father's clawed hand under his chin, forcing him to look up.

"Whether you like it or not, InuYasha, you are different. You always will be. Don't let others make you think you're worse because of that. If anything, that human heart will only make you stronger in the end." InuTaisho was very serious as he spoke, trying to get his son to believe him.

InuYasha nodded, and his father went on. "That human heart will make you feel remorse, yes, it will also make you turn human once a month, but it will make you stronger, InuYasha. If will help you keep fighting, even after things seem lost. It'll help you protect those you love InuYasha, making you more powerful. That, InuYasha, is the gift that your human heart gives you."

InuYasha smiled a bit at the memory. But there was no happiness in his eyes. Memories of his father were both fond and depressing, bringing back good times when he was younger, and also reminding him of his father's death.

Next to him, he felt the Princess stir. He looked down to see her eyes open, staring at him.

She tried to sit up quickly, her eyes widening. "Who are you?" she asked her voice shaking a little.

InuYasha didn't move at all, trying to not seem threatening. He smiled a bit to try and calm her.

"It's me," he said. "InuYasha."

"InuYasha?" she asked. "But you're human!"

InuYasha winced. He was almost hoping that Kagome wouldn't wake up during the night, so he wouldn't have to explain being human. So much for that small hope.

"I turn human once a month." he explained. "Every new moon I lose my demon side, and become completely human. It's something all hanyou's have to go through."

She nodded slowly. "So...you'll turn back into a hanyou...?" she trailed off as she watched him.

"In the morning." he answered simply.

"Oh."

"How are you feeling?" asked InuYasha. "You've been unconscious for awhile now."

"Fine...my head hurts a bit." she answered.

InuYasha nodded. He had actually expected her to be complaining about the pain when she woke up, but she seemed to be doing well. She sat up and scooted next to him, making him a little uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything, instead gazing into the fire.

"Where are the others?" asked the Princess.

"After your horse ran off like that the old hag sent me off to go after you. A couple humans followed me but I got rid of them, and they were evenly matched after that. I don't know if they're okay or not. I've been hear making sure you were okay." he answered.

The Princess looked at him then, with some unidentifiable expression on her face. Instead of becoming worried however, she just responded with a simple "Oh."

InuYasha sighed. Maybe she was a little disoriented. He thought she'd immediately want to go try and find the others. Unfortunately, he had no way of taking them back. Both her scent and his own had faded awhile back, and the footprints they had left had been snowed over.

"We'll have to travel to Kirei ourselves." he told her. She just nodded in understanding. Yes, she was probably disoriented still. He'd make sure she understood in the morning.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The night had come swiftly that day. Tomorrow the demons would be inhabiting the village. Of course, that required the absence of the humans who were living there.

Koga watched with a smirk as his tribe tore through the village. Smoke rose from the buildings that had caught on fire in the small battle. Not much of a battle though. It was more like a slaughter.

Screams rose as wolves ran after the humans, snarling and tearing at their legs, forcing them to fall before they bit through their throats. The children were simply grabbed onto and thrown down onto the ground before they quickly ripped at them with their teeth.

The wolf demons weren't much better. They cackled as they chased the humans, leaping from rooftop to rooftop and landing in front of frightened humans, who barely had enough time to scream before they were ripped to shreds by the wolf demons' claws.

Koga didn't take part in the extermination of the village. He had only wanted to supervise. Originally he had planned on making it clean and efficient, but all thoughts of doing so had left his mind when he realized how enjoyable this was.

Besides, Koga believed that his wolves and his tribe deserved to have their fun. They had been holding back ever since Sesshomaru and InuYasha had decided to take their foolish route to flank the humans.

Needless to say, this would all be even much more enjoyable if it were trained soldiers who were screaming. There wasn't anything quite as satisfying as seeing a man who claimed to be a soldier, a warrior, lose himself with fright.

Among all of this, one small girl hid in a closet in her house. She could clearly hear the screams of the villagers, the people she knew, the people she had grown up with.

Occasionally the scream of someone close to her that she knew well. Tears trailed down her cheeks at the thought of losing her friends. How could this be happening? She fought the sudden urge to start bawling. She had to stay quiet - the demons couldn't find her. She'd live through this, she knew it.

But that wasn't true. Her eyes were closed, trying to sooth the burning in her eyes when the door opened. She didn't even notice until she heard snarling.

The next thing she felt was the sharp pain in her chest as a demon clawed her, and then left to let wolves tear at her flesh. She screamed out in the pain, begging for some release from the pain, begging for help.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sesshomaru couldn't help but notice the absence of the wolf youkai when he entered the camp. He looked around carefully, briefly entertaining the thought that he had simply not noticed them, as hard as that was to believe.

To his disappointment, he found that he had not been mistaken. The wolves were not in the camp. Had they deserted? He hoped not. The wolf youkai were crucial to the demon army. And even if they were extremely annoying at times, they were worth it.

He hurried to find Ishimaru and Kaito, who were waiting for him at his tent. Both of them looked a little worried. Sesshomaru kept his face expressionless as he hurried over to them.

Before either could open their mouths, he asked, "Where is Koga and the other wolves?"

Both mouths clamped shut, and they looked at each other before looking back at Sesshomaru.

"My Lord," began Ishimaru, "You left us in charge, but some felt that they could take matters into their own hands."

"Just tell me what happened." snapped Sesshomaru, showing anger for once.

Kaito spoke up quickly, afraid of Sesshomaru's anger. "Koga decided to go to the human village an exterminated earlier than planned, my lord. He went despite our orders not to. We couldn't stop him, he wouldn't listen."

Sesshomaru kept his anger in check as Kaito went on to explain Koga's rash behavior. That wolf would have a lot of explaining to do. By disobeying Kaito and Ishimaru, he had disobeyed Sesshomaru, and Sesshomaru did not take disobedience lightly.

He turned on his heal as Kaito was still explaining and quickly hurried off towards the human village. The wolf may be doing something that would have been done eventually, but he had done it without orders, no, he had done it against orders.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naraku stood on the balcony looking at the moon in his baboon pelt. Behind him, several Lords that had been against the Taisho family for awhile were watching him

Several held glasses of sake in their hands, others simply sat empty handed. Each had come expecting a full demon, apparently, and all had expressed disappointment at finding that Naraku was a hanyou.

Naraku grimaced. Being a hanyou had made things complicated. Several of the Lords insisted that they knew better than he, simply because they were full demons!

The arrogance of full demons infuriated him, but he made sure that he did not take his anger out on the lords. He needed to make sure he had their allegiance before he could truly do anything.

Right now, it was all political. If any one of them backed out of the deal, he'd make sure that they didn't leave the palace alive. The ones that did agree he would make sure obeyed him. He did not want dissension in his empire.

Yes, his empire. Not Taisho's. The reign of the Taisho family was over, and now Naraku would be starting anew.

He turned swiftly to study the demons. He raised his voice a little to make sure they all heard.

"So you have my plan, now I will have you decision. Which of you will follow me?" he asked.

Immediately several hands raised, yet others looked hesitant. They looked around to see how many had raised their hands already. At the sight of such strong support, several decided that it would be wise to conform.

Others however, stubbornly kept their hands at their sides and their jaws clenched. They would not follow a hanyou it seemed, either that or they did not want to betray the Taisho line. It did not matter either way.

Naraku signaled to Kagura, who was watching him from the palace grounds, to prepare his palace guards. He had some annoyances to deal with.

"Well then. I think that concludes our discussions for tonight. Thos of you that are with me I'd like to have a few more words with you all. Those of you that are not, thank you for your time. The servants will show you out."

They filed out of the room silently, some glaring back at Naraku, who only smirked and waved at them.

After they had all left, Naraku was silent for some time, watching the other lords that had agreed to follow him. Finally, once spoke.

"Well? What did you want to speak about?" he asked, his voice raised a little.

Naraku raised his hands for silence. "Listen."

After a few moments, screams rose from below them. Shocked, the lords looked at Naraku. A fight had clearly ensued. Naraku glanced over the balcony to see several of the demons fighting on the palace grounds below them, the palace guards surrounding the demons.

He pointed down to the fight, and the other lords came to look. "This is what will happen to you if any of you betray me." he said quietly. He stepped inside and headed towards his chambers then, leaving the other lords to their thoughts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaede surveyed the damage around them. Several of the demon slayers were hurt, yet none of the bandits had escaped. All of their bodies had been piled on top of one another.

The injured demon slayers she had already cared for, wrapping some bandages and putting herbs on some of the more serious wounds.

She grimaced when her eyes landed on two dead demon slayers. They had been good men, and didn't deserve to be cheated out of life so easily. They deserved to at least enjoy having a family before going so young.

Her thoughts left the campsite and the injuries for the moment as she remembered that both InuYasha and Kagome were still missing.

InuYasha had hurried off quickly, and several bandits had followed him, but Kaede had no doubts as to what happened to those bandits when she had seen the familiar attack from InuYasha's sword.

But as for the well being of the Princess, Kaede just hoped that InuYasha had found her. If he hadn't or if she was hurt, Kaede wasn't sure what she would do. Kikyo's death had taken quite a toll on her, but Princess Kagome's death would be much worse.

Wherever she was, Kaede just hoped that InuYasha was watching after her. Tomorrow, they'd set out to look for her, as well as InuYasha. If they didn't find them, they'd have to set out to Kirei themselves.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry it came so late in the day. But...yeah...there really isn't an excuse. I was just extremely lazy today and kind of forgot. hehe. Anyway, read and review please!


	12. Do What You Want

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Update Dates: Sundays and Thursdays

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 12 - Do What You Want  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/24/05**

Sesshomaru hurried down the slopes of the mountain. The cold air whipped his face as he ran, numbing his ears and nose. He breathed deeply from the exertion. It was not like him to run like this, but he needed to make sure that Koga had not done anything more than take the village.

Although he had been planning on taking the village, Koga had done it without orders. Sesshomaru had decided he'd let the wolf get away with that offense, but if he had done anything else without orders...well, Sesshomaru would be far from happy.

The village was in view now, he could see the smoke rising from it and the orange glow of the flames on the houses. People swarmed around the village, some trying to flee, while others pursued. The ones who fled never made it far. Demons and wolves were far faster than humans, and many didn't show any mercy. It was not a pleasant way to die.

Behind Sesshomaru could hear the footfalls of a bunch of fellow inuyoukai who had followed him. If Koga had decided to abandon Sesshomaru and fight the humans on his own, he may very well attack Sesshomaru. The inuyoukai refused staying in the camp when they knew their leader may be in danger.

Occasionally one of the inuyoukai or one of the dog's would slip in the snow, especially when the lower layers had compacted and frozen into a slippery ice, but none paid any mind when another fell. Reaching the village was first priority.

When they finally did reach the village, Sesshomaru could see Koga standing just outside the gates of the village, his arms crossed in front of him and his feet shoulder length apart, smirking as he watched his wolf youkai tear villagers apart.

Koga appeared to be unaware of the new arrivals, laughing when he saw one human reach the gate and try to beg for mercy, only to be attacked from behind by three wolves.

Sesshomaru didn't laugh. He didn't find many things funny. He was slightly confused however by the humans begging. How could the pitiful man even think that the demons would spare him? Better to have simply taken his own life before the demons had a chance to kill him. At least then he would die without having to feel his flesh be torn apart.

It was then that Koga noticed Sesshomaru. He gave a start, his eyes widening, before he quickly bowed to Sesshomaru. His blue eyes never left Sesshomaru's face however. So, he obviously didn't trust Sesshomaru to not attack him when he let his guard down.

Sesshomaru stepped forward, and nearly smiled when he saw the wolf flinch. Yes, he knew he had done wrong, and was only now thinking of the consequences. Sesshomaru glanced at the village then. He had done something that Sesshomaru would have ordered anyway, so perhaps the wolf did not deserve to be punished.

"You disobeyed Kaito and Ishimaru, Koga. By doing that, you disobeyed me." stated Sesshomaru, his voice like ice.

Koga hurried to explain. "I knew you would have ordered it anyway Lord Sesshomaru, so I thought that I would save you the trouble and-"

"Normally you would be punished severely for disobeyed." cut in Sesshomaru. He glanced at the village again, ignoring the screams that rose from it. "However, you are correct. I would have ordered it to be done. Perhaps I would have gone about it more efficiently, yet it would have been done anyway. So I will be lenient this time and allow this to go. If you disobey orders once more however..." he let the threat hang in the air.

Koga visibly flinched at the words. Angering Sesshomaru was not a wise thing to do. Especially when Sesshomaru had so much power as the western lord.

Sesshomaru left the wolf to go and see the village. He stepped over the dead humans and ignored the wolves that raced past him, as well as the cackling wolf demons, their claws dripping with blood.

"Clean up this mess." he ordered over his shoulder.

He didn't wait to see if they obeyed. He knew they would. The dead humans and their body parts would have to be dragged out of the village. Sesshomaru would not force his army to reside in a village full of the dead.

He stepped over a human, who was still clinging to life. He tried to say something to Sesshomaru, but all he managed to make was a small gurgling sound as blood flooded his mouth.

Sesshomaru glanced at him before walking on. He would not bother to kill the man - he would die soon enough. Perhaps if there was a human who was missing a limb and would still live he would have stopped to kill the human, but not someone who already smelled of death.

He soon noticed that Koga was following him. He no longer seemed to be carrying himself so arrogantly. His shoulder had dropped a little, and he seemed to be watching Sesshomaru warily, as though he was afraid Sesshomaru might turn around and attack him at any time.

The screams had begun to die down, most likely whatever humans that had been in the village earlier today were either dead or had somehow escaped. Sesshomaru did not bother sending anyone out to see if any humans had escaped. Many would freeze to death in the night, and the ones that didn't wouldn't be able to make it very far.

Sesshomaru glanced at the buildings that he passed. Surprisingly, many were still intact. The fire didn't seem to be spreading quickly, which was just as well. Sesshomaru didn't quite feel like capturing a village simply to burn it down.

He made a mental note to ask Koga how that fire had started. If the wolf demon had ordered it, then perhaps he should be punished after all. If that fire had spread and burnt too much of the village, then it would have defeated the purpose of capturing it in the first place.

As the wolf demons realized that their weren't any humans left standing, they slowly began to gather the corpses and pile them just outside of the village. Tonight they would burn the bodies. Sesshomaru shuddered. The smell of funeral pyres was disgusting to his sense of smell, but it seemed they had to clean up the village somehow.

Several of the inuyoukai went to help the wolf youkai gather the bodies, but Sesshomaru called them back.

"They're the ones who killed them. Let them clean the bodies up." He glanced over his shoulder at one of them. Kitaru he thought his name was. "Kitaru, go back and tell Kaito and Ishimaru that the village is empty now."

Soon Sesshomaru came to a larger building, apparently the village headsman's hut. He stepped inside and blood splattered walls greeted him. Of to the side was an elderly couple, they're faces a mangled mess covered in blood and wounds. He spared them a glance before he noticed a small hand sticking out from behind a door.

He walked over to it an pulled the door open to see a small girl on the floor of the closet.

It was the same girl he had seen in the clearing making her snowman. The one who had made her snowman look like Sesshomaru, and hadn't even feared him in the slightest.

He looked at her for a long time in silence. Her kimono was drench with blood - her blood - all oozing out of the gashes in her chest, the wounds she had taken from the demon's claws and the wolves' teeth. For some reason, he was feeling sadness. He didn't know why, he had never felt sadness or regret over something so small.

In fact, he hadn't felt anything for any of the humans he'd seen so far in the village. Not even when they were still alive and screaming. Behind him, Sesshomaru could hear two wolf youkai lifting the elderly couple up and carrying them out of the hut. A third wolf youkai walked up behind him.

"Do you want me to remove her, Lord Sesshomaru?" he asked.

Sesshomaru shook his head no, still staring at the girl. He waited until the wolf youkai had left before he drew Tensaiga. He waited until the demons from the other side appeared before he swung the sword, killing the demons. The wounds on the girl's chest healed and her eyes opened.

She stared at him for a moment before turning to look at the hut around her. The blood on the floors and on the walls was still there, but what she was obviously seeking - the elderly couple - wasn't.

He sighed and began to walk away, leaving the girl where she was. He had revived the girl, and he still wasn't sure why. But he intended to leave the girl alone for now.

He stopped when he realized the girl was following him. He turned to look at her then, she was staring right at him, brown eyes meeting gold.

"What are you doing, human?" he asked.

"You saved me." she said, as if that explained everything.

He stood there silently, waiting for her to go on, but when she didn't, he simple turned away from her and continued walking. "Do what you want." he said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was no light shining through the branches of the tall trees in the early morning. Kagome and InuYasha were both awake, and one particular hanyou was painfully aware of the fact that the sun had not yet risen. He would occasionally finger his dark hair or glare at his hands, at though he were angry with them. Perhaps he was.

"You said you'll change back when the sun rises, right?" asked Kagome.

"Feh. Of course." snapped InuYasha.

Kagome glared at him for snapping at her, but she said nothing. She realized awhile ago that he was just angry when he was human, usually because he felt so weak as a human.

She watched him from the corner of her eye as she ate some of the food that had been in her pack. InuYasha had gone back to the horse and gotten her things earlier, and thankfully they had some food in one of the compartments.

Sitting on a fallen tree, he occasionally threw a few logs into the fire to try and keep it alive and burning. He huddled closer to the fire to try and keep warm, but the cold air seemed to take all the warmth out of him as quick as the fire gave any.

He sat back and forced himself to ignore the cold, hoping the Princess hadn't noticed how he shivered before. He wasn't some weakling - he would be able to handle the cold. But he was painfully aware of his now rosy cheeks and blue lips. They were so cold they seemed like they were burning.

Finally, the first glimmers of daylight began to shine through the leaves. InuYasha stood expectantly, waiting for the change to take place. He smirked as Kagome looked on with interest.

The princess couldn't help but gasp when she saw it happen. She'd never seen anything like it. He seemed to...pulse as the sun rose. With each pulse his demon features returned. His hair turned silver, his normal ears appeared on his head as his human ears disappeared, and his human nails grew into his normal demon claws.

When the transformation had finished, InuYasha inspected his claws. He turned to see the princess staring at him, her mouth agape. He smirked again. He walked over and picked up her bag, and then said.

"Hurry up and finish eating. I want to reach Kirei before nightfall." he said.

Kagome, who was still staring at him, exclaimed, "But it's a two day trip on horseback! On foot it'll be four if not five!"

InuYasha glanced at her, and laughed. "Yes, on foot it would take four or five days, and on horseback it would take two, but who said we're going to be traveling that way?"

Kagome thought for a moment. What could he possibly mean? What other ways could they travel? She tried to think of ways to travel as she ate, but couldn't think of any way faster than horseback.

While she was eating, InuYasha sat and leaned back against the tree, closing his eyes. He liked to simply relax like this sometimes. Preferably in a tree branch, but he didn't want the Princess to think he had left her, so he stayed in sight.

He waited until Kagome had finished eating before he walked over and crouched down in front of her.

"Get on." he said. "We'll reach Kirei by nightfall if I carry you."

"O-On top of you?" she stuttered. "I'm not doing that!"

InuYasha rolled his eyes. "If you don't, we'll be walking for four days! So you make the choice, get back to safety at your home tonight, or take our time and risk running into more problems?"

Kagome was about to refuse, but she stopped herself, knowing that she was just being childish. InuYasha was right, if she did let him carry her, they would move a lot fast. She nodded and stepped forward to climb on his back.

InuYasha crouched again and let her get on. She blushed when she got on and wrapped her legs around it. It somehow felt too...intimate. Unbidden thoughts came to her mind when she felt InuYasha's muscles flex as he stood. She pushed the thoughts away and concentrated on getting home.

"Hold on tight." was all InuYasha said before jumping. Kagome shrieked at the sudden movement, but calmed quickly as InuYasha tightened his grip to reassure her. She rested her head on his back and watched as the trees went by in a blur, pausing only when InuYasha stopped on a branch only to leap off of it again for more speed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaede glanced behind her to see the demon slayers trailing her. They had been extremely cautious ever since those bandits had attacked them. They scanned the tree's often, trying to see if there was anyone hiding nearby, ready to attack.

Of course, Kaede had suggested that they take the path that lead out of the forest to the main road on the plains between the mountains and the forest and then head to Kirei on that road, but the Demon slayers refused. They agreed that taking that route would help them avoid any chance of bandits attacking them again since it would be much harder to sneak up on a group of travelers on the plains, but they also said that doing so would lengthen the trip.

Not only that, taking that route would also take them even farther away from InuYasha and the Princess, who they still had not found. And they had looked, very hard. One of the demon slayers had found what looked like a trail that InuYasha had left behind, but they quickly found out how wrong they were when it lead to an angry bear demon.

Needless to say, they stopped following odd trails that demon's left behind after that.

One of the demon slayers hurried up beside her. He was the new leader of the small band of demon slayers, since the bandits had managed to put an arrow through their last leader's chest, and Maiku was still becoming accustomed to his new position.

"Kaede-sama." he said, "I was wondering if perhaps we should remain in the forest for a day more, to see if the Princess or the hanyou returns. If they were to return and we were not there -"

Kaede cut him off quickly. "No Maiku. We must return to the palace quickly. As much as I hate to admit it, the shikon jewel's safety comes first. After we return it to the palace we can worry about the Princess. At the moment, I am not to worried about her. If InuYasha found her, she will be taken care of."

The young man sneered. His new authority seemed to begetting to his head to think he could be disrespectful to Kaede. "How can you trust that hanyou at all? He is a Taisho! The very reason we are at war now!"

Kaede let him rant about InuYasha and how untrustworthy he was, but Kaede thought differently. She had seen that he believed the Princess's words, and would not betray her now. She felt the jewel in her pocket. Kagome had dropped it when he horse had gone wild, and now it seemed that it was left up to Kaede to protect it for now.

Kaede heeled her horse forward, ignoring the man to her side and his complaints as she offered a silent prayer for Princess Kagome's safety.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kohaku ignored the spray from the ocean as the ship broke through another wave. He did not like traveling on the sea, it usually gave him an upset stomach, and the constant reminder that he was on top of the water as the ocean water sloshed and splashed up on top of the ship was not helping.

He stood at the bow of the ship, watching as the western shores came into view. They were quite awhile south of Daelis, Kohaku did not want the demons to know of his arrival before he even reached land, but they were still close enough to be able to reach Daelis in a few days march on land.

Behind his ship sailed a small armada. Kohaka had taken as many men as he was willing to from the troops near Kirei. Hopefully General Jin and General Hideko would return to Kirei in time to defend it from the demon army. Kohaku had been hesitant to take any troops away from Kirei until Hideki or Jin returned with their armies, but the Emperor had put his foot down, demanding that Kohaku sail out of the Western Lands as soon as possible.

Kahaku gazed at the land forming in the horizon. Soon he'd be there, and he still wasn't sure whether he'd ever leave those lands. He sighed. Strangely, despite his belief that he wouldn't be returning to the Eastern Kingdom, Kohaku felt more fear for his sister, Sango.

He too had heard rumors of Sesshomaru's and InuYasha's skill and extensive training for war. And frankly, he knew General Hideki and General Jin wouldn't put up much of a fight. They were both fools, each of them boasting of how they would rout the demon army shortly, with hardly any losses.

Kohaku pushed his thoughts away from Sango and her safety. She was far away, and whatever happened there was beyond his reach. He had to concentrate on what he was about to do.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay! I promised I'd have it to you today. I'm VERY sorry about not getting it to you yesterday. Anyway, I hope it lives up to any expectations you guys might have from the previews.

Tell me what you think:D


	13. Temporary AN SORRY AGAIN

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha.

Update Dates: Sundays and Thursdays

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**The War Between Races**  
Chapter 13 - Temporary Author's Note! (Sorry AGAIN)  
By: **Scaevola**  
Published **9/16/05**  
Updated **10/27/05**

I am REALLY sorry. But i am having trouble keeping up with my own update dates. I'll update the two chapters tomorrow, and then Sunday as well, and then from then on I think I'll have to slow down to updating only on Sundays. I'm really, really sorry about this, but some teachers are starting to assign tons of work.

But I PROMISE that I'll be able to keep up with the 1 update per week thing. That's incredibly easy for me to do, and you won't have to worry about me messing that up.

Anyway, just like last time - Here's a preview

_"I will not have it!" he shouted. "He's dangerous and can't be allowed freedom!"_

_"But father!" she cried. "He has done nothing but help me! He's even saved my life! More than once!"_

_"No, Kagome! He is the leader of our enemies, and as such he will be kept under watch! He will not be freed just so he can betray us when his army arrives!" The emperor glared at his daughter, daring her to challenge his authority again._

Please don't hurt me over this:( That would hurt. _  
_


	14. IM BACK WILL UPDATE SOON

-1WOW it's been a LOOONG time. I want to assure all of you who have emailed me that I am OKAY. Nothing serious happened - no disasters - fires - hurricanes - etc. Real life simply caught up with fantasy life and I had to pick up my senior year grades. Anyway, I have been accepted into a steady college - I have not been rescinded or anything, so I'm happy.

So what does all this mean?

Well, I'm back - I have free time…..I think I'll start updating my stories again. What do you all say?

I just hope some people who read this story are still interested. If not…Well…I might update anyway.


End file.
